Electrophoretic studies of extracellular glucosyltransferases and fructosyltransferases from seventeen strains of Streptococcus mutans

Immobilization of fructosyltransferase from Streptococcus mutans on hydroxyapatite surfaces induces the formation of multimeric complexes

AIMS

To investigate the formation of fructosyltransferase (FTF) complexes on hydroxyapatite (HA) surfaces.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Cell-free extracellular FTF from Streptococcus mutans, purified from hyperproducing strain V-1995, was adsorbed onto HA and then eluted from the surface by means of a concentration gradient of potassium phosphate buffer. The FTF monomers loaded onto HA formed, upon adsorption, various complexes ranging from 200 to 700 kDa as demonstrated using native PAGE. All these complexes exhibited enzymatic activity.

CONCLUSIONS

Adsorption of FTF onto HA induced the formation of stable and enzymatically-active complexes.

SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY

The formation of these complexes may explain the change of FTF catalytic properties after adsorption onto HA. This study is another step in determining the properties of a-cellular constituents of the oral biofilm.

Multiple glucan-binding proteins of Streptococcus sobrinus

Several proteins from culture supernatants of Streptococcus sobrinus were able to bind avidly to Sephadex G-75. The proteins could be partially eluted from the Sephadex by low-molecular-weight alpha-1,6 glucan or fully eluted by 4 M guanidine hydrochloride. Elution profiles were complex, yielding proteins of 16, 45, 58 to 60, 90, 135, and 145 kDa, showing that the wild-type strain possessed multiple glucan-binding proteins. Two mutants of Streptococcus sobrinus incapable of aggregation by high-molecular-weight alpha-1,6 glucan were isolated. One mutant was spontaneous, from a cell suspension to which glucan had been added, whereas the other was induced by ethyl methanesulfonate. Both mutants were devoid of a 60-kDa protein, as shown by gel electrophoresis of culture supernatants and whole cells. Amino acid analysis showed that the 58- to 60-kDa protein and the 90-kDa protein were distinct, although both were N-terminally blocked. Both mutants retained their ability to adhere to glass in the presence of sucrose and to ferment mannitol and sorbitol. Both mutants retained their glucosytransferase activities, as shown by activity gels. Western blots (immunoblots), employing antibody against a glucan-binding protein of Streptococcus mutans, failed to reveal cross-reactivity with S. sobrinus proteins. The results show that even though S. sobrinus produces several proteins capable of binding alpha-1,6 glucans, the 60-kDa protein is probably the lectin needed for glucan-dependent cellular aggregation.

Mechanism of water-insoluble glucan synthesis in Streptococcus sobrinus

Synthesis of water-insoluble glucan (IG) by 1,3-alpha-D-glucan synthase from Streptococcus sobrinus was examined using methylation analysis. The purified enzyme was incubated with sucrose and dextran T2000 (DT2000) for a given time and only IG was harvested by centrifugation. The remaining supernatant was incubated again, and IG was obtained. By repeating the above method using the residual supernatant, we obtained 5 varieties of IG precipitated in different periods. These IGs were methylated and examined using gas chromatograph mass spectrometry. The DT2000 water-insolubilized in the early reaction stage tended to have a highly ramified structure, with 1,3-alpha-D-glucan on a 1,6-alpha-D-glucan chain as the main chain. On the contrary, the DT2000 water-insolubilized in the late stage tended to have sparse side chains of 1,3-alpha-D-glucan which elongated with incubation. Specifically, the greater the number of side chains, the sooner the DT2000 was insolubilized. These results suggest that water-insolubilization of the water-soluble glucan not only depends on the increase of the ratio of 1,3-alpha-glucoside linkages to 1,6-alpha-glucoside linkages but also on the degree of branching of the 1,3,6-alpha-branched glucoside linkages.

Influence of the culture medium on the synthesis of alpha-D-glucans by Streptococcus cricetus AHT

Three different alpha-D-glucosyltransferases (GTFs) were separated from culture filtrates of Streptococcus cricetus strain AHT grown in a complex, standard medium in batch culture or under defined conditions of growth in the chemostat. Two of the enzymes (GTF-S1 and GTF-S2) converted sucrose into branched, soluble dextrans, and the third (GTF-I) produced a relatively linear, water-insoluble, predominantly (1----3)-linked alpha-D-glucan. When the organism was grown in complex medium modified by the removal of the fraction of high molecular weight, only GTF-S1 and GTF-S2 were released, and no GTF-I was detected. The water-insoluble glucan fraction obtained by incubating the cell-free filtrate with sucrose contained from 17 to 25% of (1----3)-glucosidic linkages, and accounted for up to 78 and 4% of the total glucans derived from growth in standard and modified medium, respectively. The soluble glucans produced in the same reaction were fractionated with ethanol to give, from both media, two distinct dextrans comprising (1) a highly branched dextran similar to the S1-dextran product of GTF-S1 and (2) a dextran containing fewer branch linkages and up to 86% of (1----6)-alpha-D-glucosidic linkages. A GTF responsible for the synthesis of the latter dextran was not separated. The structures of the glucan fractions and the products of the separated GTF were examined by enzymic degradation and methylation analysis.

Biochemical characterization and evaluation of virulence of a fructosyltransferase-deficient mutant of Streptococcus mutans V403

The Streptococcus mutans extracellular fructosyltransferase (FTF) enzyme may play a role in the formation of dental caries by synthesizing a fructan polymer that serves as an extracellular storage polysaccharide. We sought to determine if an FTF-deficient strain of S. mutans was less virulent than wild-type cells in a rat animal model system. Cloned ftf gene sequences from S. mutans GS5 were used to generate a defective copy of the ftf gene by inserting into the ftf coding region a DNA fragment which encoded erythromycin resistance. The plasmid which carried the defective ftf construct was introduced into S. mutans V403 by using genetic transformation. This defective construct replaced, by allelic exchange, the wild-type copy of the ftf gene carried on the V403 chromosome. FTF activity assays indicated that the recombinant strain, V1741, was deficient in fructan synthesis. However, extracellular protein preparations from this strain displayed an increased ability to generate glucose polymers (glucans) compared with V403 preparations. Levels of adherence to glass and rat tooth surfaces by strain V1741 were similar to those of the V403 strain. Both strains caused moderate decay on rat tooth surfaces; however, the FTF-deficient strain was less pathogenic compared with the wild-type strain. These results suggest that FTF activity contributes to the pathogenicity of S. mutans V403, possibly by generating extracellular fructans which serve as storage compounds.

Purification of a fourth glucosyltransferase from Streptococcus sobrinus

Recently, we found a novel primer-independent, water-soluble glucan synthase as a fourth glucosyltransferase (GTF) in a culture supernatant of strain AHT-k of Streptococcus sobrinus (Y. Yamashita, N. Hanada, and T. Takehara, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 150:687-693, 1988). In the present study, four kinds of purified GTFs, including the novel GTF, were prepared. They were composed of two primer-dependent GTFs and two primer-independent GTFs. Of the primer-dependent GTFs, one was a water-insoluble glucan synthase and the other was a water-soluble glucan synthase; both of the primer-independent GTFs were water-soluble glucan synthases (GTF-Sis). Using antisera against four purified GTFs, we concluded that the immunological properties of each were completely different from those of the others. Additionally, it was shown that the novel GTF-Si, which was previously shown to have a molecular weight of 137,000, was proteolytically degraded and could be isolated at a molecular weight of 152,000 and that Streptococcus cricetus secreted an enzyme that immunologically cross-reacted with GTF-Si. While the product of the novel GTF-Si was not an effective primer for both of the primer-dependent enzymes (water-soluble and -insoluble glucan synthases), the product of the enzyme affected the molecular size of the products of the other GTF-Sis.

A novel glucosyltransferase from Streptococcus mutans produces oligo-isomaltosaccharides

Streptococcus mutans secretes a sucrose-independent branalphang enzyme that utilizes isomaltosaccharides as donors for branalphang formation on dextran. Although the branching enzyme is necessary for the formation of extracellular polysaccharide complexes, the source of the donor for the enzyme is unknown. In this study, we purified a novel glucosyltransferase from S. mutans and characterized its properties. The glucosyltransferase was primer independent 1,6-alpha-D-glucan synthase, which produced oligo-isomaltosaccharides. The enzyme was thought to be a source of donor for the branching enzyme in S. mutans.