This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Nakano, K.
Right arrow Articles by Nakagawa, I.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Nakano, K.
Right arrow Articles by Nakagawa, I.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, August 2007, p. 2616-2625, Vol. 45, No. 8
0095-1137/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.02343-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Streptococcus mutans Clonal Variation Revealed by Multilocus Sequence Typing{triangledown}

Kazuhiko Nakano,1 Jinthana Lapirattanakul,1,2 Ryota Nomura,1 Hirotoshi Nemoto,1 Satu Alaluusua,3,4 Lisa Grönroos,4 Martti Vaara,5 Shigeyuki Hamada,6 Takashi Ooshima,1 and Ichiro Nakagawa7,8*

Departments of Pediatric Dentistry,1 Oral and Molecular Microbiology, Osaka University Graduate School of Dentistry, 1-8 Yamada-oka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan,2 Department of Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry, Institute of Dentistry, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland,3 Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Diseases,4 Division of Clinical Microbiology, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland,5 Department of Life Science, Nihon University Advanced Research Institute for the Sciences and Humanities, Tokyo 102-0073, Japan,6 Division of Bacteriology, Department of Infectious Disease Control, International Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 108-8639, Japan,7 PRESTO, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Kawaguchi 332-0012, Japan8

Received 19 November 2006/ Returned for modification 9 February 2007/ Accepted 6 June 2007

Streptococcus mutans is the major pathogen of dental caries, a biofilm-dependent infectious disease, and occasionally causes infective endocarditis. S. mutans strains have been classified into four serotypes (c, e, f, and k). However, little is known about the S. mutans population, including the clonal relationships among strains of S. mutans, in relation to the particular clones that cause systemic diseases. To address this issue, we have developed a multilocus sequence typing (MLST) scheme for S. mutans. Eight housekeeping gene fragments were sequenced from each of 102 S. mutans isolates collected from the four serotypes in Japan and Finland. Between 14 and 23 alleles per locus were identified, allowing us theoretically to distinguish more than 1.2 x 1010 sequence types. We identified 92 sequence types in these 102 isolates, indicating that S. mutans contains a diverse population. Whereas serotype c strains were widely distributed in the dendrogram, serotype e, f, and k strains were differentiated into clonal complexes. Therefore, we conclude that the ancestral strain of S. mutans was serotype c. No geographic specificity was identified. However, the distribution of the collagen-binding protein gene (cnm) and direct evidence of mother-to-child transmission were clearly evident. In conclusion, the superior discriminatory capacity of this MLST scheme for S. mutans may have important practical implications.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Division of Bacteriology, Department of Infectious Disease Control, International Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 108-8639, Japan. Phone and fax: 81-3-6409-2074. E-mail: ichiro-n{at}ims.u-tokyo.ac.jp

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 13 June 2007.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, August 2007, p. 2616-2625, Vol. 45, No. 8
0095-1137/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.02343-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Beighton, D. (2009). Can the Ecology of the Dental Biofilm Be Beneficially Altered?. ADR 21: 69-73 [Full Text]  
  • Do, T., Jolley, K. A., Maiden, M. C. J., Gilbert, S. C., Clark, D., Wade, W. G., Beighton, D. (2009). Population structure of Streptococcus oralis. Microbiology 155: 2593-2602 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Nomura, R., Nakano, K., Taniguchi, N., Lapirattanakul, J., Nemoto, H., Gronroos, L., Alaluusua, S., Ooshima, T. (2009). Molecular and clinical analyses of the gene encoding the collagen-binding adhesin of Streptococcus mutans. J Med Microbiol 58: 469-475 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Nakano, K., Nomura, R., Nemoto, H., Lapirattanakul, J., Taniguchi, N., Gronroos, L., Alaluusua, S., Ooshima, T. (2008). Protein Antigen in Serotype k Streptococcus mutans Clinical Isolates. JDR 87: 964-968 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Nemoto, H., Nakano, K., Nomura, R., Ooshima, T. (2008). Molecular characterization of Streptococcus mutans strains isolated from the heart valve of an infective endocarditis patient. J Med Microbiol 57: 891-895 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»