Penicillin-induced lysis of Streptococcus mutans

Generation of bioluminescent Streptococcus mutans and its usage in rapid analysis of the efficacy of antimicrobial compounds

The oral bacterium Streptococcus mutans was transformed by electroporation with a shuttle vector (pCSS945) containing insect luciferase gene from a click beetle (Pyrophorus plagiophthalamus) resulting in a bioluminescent phenotype. This S. mutans strain was used in experiments in which light emission was used as a rapid and, compared to conventional CFU counting, more convenient means of estimating the effects of various antimicrobial treatments. The basic parameters affecting in vivo light production by the strain were studied. It was found that pH 6.0 was optimal for incorporation of the substrate D-luciferin for the luciferase reaction. The optimum concentration of D-luciferin was approximately 150 microM at room temperature. Under optimum conditions the light emission in vivo increased rapidly to a constant level and thereafter had a decay of 0.6%/min when logarithmic-growth-phase cells were used. The light emission closely paralleled the numbers of CFU, giving a detectable signal from 30,000 cells and having a dynamic measurement range over 4 log CFU/relative light unit. The cells were treated with various antimicrobial agents, and the emitted bioluminescence was measured. With the bioluminescent measurements, the results were obtained within hours compared to the days required for agar plates, and also, the kinetics of the antibacterial actions could be followed. Thus, the light emission was found to be a reliable, sensitive, and real-time indicator of the bacteriostatic actions of the antimicrobial agents tested.

Effects of pH on expression of sodium fluoride resistance in Streptococcus mutans

Stable fluoride-resistant mutants of Streptococcus mutans GS-5 were isolated on Todd-Hewitt agar by a step-wise selection procedure. Resistance is defined here as the ability to form colonies in 48 hr. First-step mutants demonstrated six different levels of resistance, ranging from 400 to 1000 micrograms/mL sodium fluoride. Second-step mutants demonstrated two levels of resistance, one at 1600 and the highest at 3000 micrograms/mL sodium fluoride. All mutants (originally isolated at pH 7.2) were tested for fluoride resistance at pH 5 and 6. At these lower pH values, all of the mutants demonstrated resistance to fluoride when compared with the parent strain, but at much-reduced levels.