Molecular epidemiology and characterization of Streptococcus mutans strains in Korea

• Published in: Journal of Korean Academy of Oral Health Vol. 44; no. 1; pp. 34 - 40
• Main Authors: Kim, Se-Yeon, Bae, Il Kown, Lee, Jung-Ha, Shin, Jeong Hwan, Kim, Jin-Bom
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 대한예방치과·구강보건학회 01.03.2020
• Subjects: 치의학
• ISSN: 1225-388X; 2093-7784
• DOI: 10.11149/jkaoh.2020.44.1.34

Objectives: We investigated the characteristics of Streptococcus mutans in the national culture collection from Korea. Twenty-nine (dental plaque, n=27; endodontic infections, n=1; blood, n=1)isolates were included in this study. Methods: Antimicrobial susceptibilities were tested using the disk diffusion test. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST), serotyping, and collagen-binding genes were used for polymerase chainreaction (PCR) and direct sequencing. A collagen-binding (to assess the adhesion properties) assay was performed. S. mutans demonstrated high susceptibility to antimicrobial agents. Differences in collagen-binding abilities of the cnm-positive and -negative groups were compared using the Mann-Whitney U test (P<0.05). Results: MLST analyses revealed 25 sequence types (STs), 17 of which (ST213-ST229) contained new alleles. The strains were classified into four serotypes with the c type encompassing 79.3% of all strains, while the e , f , and k types representing 6.9% each. Analysis of the cnm and cbm genes, which encode the two surface adhesin components of S. mutans , revealed three cnm -positive strains, each displaying greater adhesion ability than those of the cnm -negative strains. Conclusions: This study highlights the presence of a wide variety of S. mutans genotypes in Korea. These findings may provide useful information regarding the pathogenesis of infectious diseases, such as dental caries. KCI Citation Count: 0