Department of Oral Microbiology and Immunology, and Dental Research Institute, School of Dentistry, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, Republic of Korea.
Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, and Research Institute of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, Republic of Korea.
J Microbiol. 2021 Dec;59(12):1142-1149. doi: 10.1007/s12275-021-1576-8. Epub 2021 Dec 4.
Streptococcus gordonii, a Gram-positive commensal bacterium, is an opportunistic pathogen closely related to initiation and progression of various oral diseases, such as periodontitis and dental caries. Its biofilm formation is linked with the development of such diseases by enhanced resistance against antimicrobial treatment or host immunity. In the present study, we investigated the effect of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) on the biofilm formation of S. gordonii. SCFAs, including sodium acetate (NaA), sodium propionate (NaP), and sodium butyrate (NaB), showed an effective inhibitory activity on the biofilm formation of S. gordonii without reduction in bacterial growth. SCFAs suppressed S. gordonii biofilm formation at early time points whereas SCFAs did not affect its preformed biofilm. A quorum-sensing system mediated by competence-stimulating peptide (CSP) is known to regulate biofilm formation of streptococci. Interestingly, SCFAs substantially decreased mRNA expression of comD and comE, which are CSP-sensor and its response regulator responsible for CSP pathway, respectively. Although S. gordonii biofilm formation was enhanced by exogenous synthetic CSP treatment, such effect was not observed in the presence of SCFAs. Collectively, these results suggest that SCFAs have an anti-biofilm activity on S. gordonii through inhibiting comD and comE expression which results in negative regulation of CSP quorum-sensing system. SCFAs could be an effective anti-biofilm agent against S. gordonii for the prevention of oral diseases.
戈登链球菌是一种革兰氏阳性共生菌，是与各种口腔疾病（如牙周炎和龋齿）的发生和发展密切相关的机会性病原体。其生物膜的形成通过增强对抗菌治疗或宿主免疫的抵抗力与这些疾病的发展有关。在本研究中，我们研究了短链脂肪酸（SCFAs）对戈登链球菌生物膜形成的影响。SCFAs 包括乙酸钠（NaA）、丙酸钠（NaP）和丁酸钠（NaB），在不减少细菌生长的情况下，对 S. gordonii 的生物膜形成表现出有效的抑制活性。SCFAs 抑制 S. gordonii 生物膜的早期形成，而不影响其已形成的生物膜。由感应肽（CSP）调节的群体感应系统被认为调节链球菌的生物膜形成。有趣的是，SCFAs 显著降低了 comD 和 comE 的 mRNA 表达，comD 和 comE 分别是 CSP 传感器及其负责 CSP 途径的响应调节剂。尽管外源合成的 CSP 处理增强了 S. gordonii 的生物膜形成，但在 SCFAs 存在的情况下，没有观察到这种作用。总的来说，这些结果表明，SCFAs 通过抑制 comD 和 comE 的表达对 S. gordonii 具有抗生物膜活性，从而对 CSP 群体感应系统产生负调控作用。SCFAs 可能是预防口腔疾病的 S. gordonii 有效抗生物膜剂。
