Dental caries is the most common chronic infectious disease worldwide and disproportionately affects marginalized socioeconomic groups. Streptococcus mutans is considered a primary etiological agent of caries, with its pathogenicity being dependent on ...

S. mutans must be able to outcompete neighboring organisms in its ecological niche in order to cause dental caries. S. mutans B04Sm5 inhibited the growth of neighboring commensal streptococci through production of reutericyclins via the muc biosynthetic ...

Streptococcus mutans is considered a primary etiologic agent of dental caries, which is the most common chronic infectious disease worldwide. S. mutans B04Sm5 was recently shown to produce reutericyclins and mutanocyclin through the muc biosynthetic gene cluster, and to utilize reutericyclins to inhibit the growth of neighboring commensal Streptococci. In this study, examination of S. mutans and muc phylogeny suggested evolution of an ancestral S. mutans muc into three lineages within one S. mutans clade, and then horizontal transfer of muc to other S. mutans clades. The roles of the mucG and mucH transcriptional regulators, and the mucI transporter, were also examined. mucH was demonstrated to encode a transcriptional activator of muc. mucH deletion reduced production of mutanocyclin and reutericyclins, and eliminated the impaired growth and inhibition of neighboring Streptococci phenotypes which are associated with reutericyclin production. Δ mucG had increased mutanocyclin and reutericyclin production, which impaired growth and increased the ability to inhibit neighboring Streptococci. However, deletion of mucG also caused reduced expression of mucD, mucE , and mucI . Deletion of mucI reduced mutanocyclin and reutericylin production, but enhanced growth, suggesting that mucI may not transport reutericyclin as its homolog does in Limosilactobacillus reuteri . Further research is needed to determine the roles of mucG and mucI , and to identify any co-factors affecting the activity of the mucG and mucH regulators. Overall, this study provided pangenome and phylogenetic analysis that serves as a resource for S. mutans research, and began elucidation of the regulation of reutericyclins and mutanocyclin production in S. mutans . Importance S. mutans must be able to outcompete neighboring organisms in its ecological niche in order to cause dental caries. S. mutans B04Sm5 inhibited the growth of neighboring commensal Streptococci through production of reutericyclins via the muc biosynthetic gene cluster. In this study, carriage of muc was examined across S. mutans , which showed that 35 of 244 RefSeq S. mutans genomes encoded muc and provided a valuable update to the S. mutans pangenome and phylogeny. The roles of the mucG and mucH transcriptional regulators, and the mucI transporter, were also examined. All 3 genes impacted production of mutanocyclin and reutericyclins, which affected the growth rates, transcriptomes, and the ability of the S. mutans strains to inhibit the growth of neighboring commensals.

The human oral microbiome consists of diverse microbes actively communicating and interacting through a variety of biochemical mechanisms. Dental caries is a...