Published in

Public Library of Science, PLoS ONE, 2(8), p. e57182, 2013

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0057182

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

Investigating Acid Production by Streptococcus mutans with a Surface-Displayed pH-Sensitive Green Fluorescent Protein

Journal article published in 2013 by Lihong Guo, Wei Hu, Xuesong He, Renate Lux, Jeff McLean ORCID, Wenyuan Shi
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

Full text: Download

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Green circle
Postprint: archiving allowed
Green circle
Published version: archiving allowed
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Acidogenicity and aciduricity are the main virulence factors of the cavity-causing bacterium . Monitoring at the individual cell level the temporal and spatial distribution of acid produced by this important oral pathogen is central for our understanding of these key virulence factors especially when resides in multi-species microbial communities. In this study, we explored the application of pH-sensitive green fluorescent proteins (pHluorins) to investigate these important features. Ecliptic pHluorin was functionally displayed on the cell surface of as a fusion protein with SpaP. The resulting strain (O87) was used to monitor temporal and spatial pH changes in the microenvironment of cells under both planktonic and biofilm conditions. Using strain O87, we revealed a rapid pH drop in the microenviroment of microcolonies prior to the decrease in the macro-environment pH following sucrose fermentation. Meanwhile, a non-uniform pH distribution was observed within biofilms, reflecting differences in microbial metabolic activity. Furthermore, strain O87 was successfully used to monitor the acid production profiles within dual- and multispecies oral biofilms. Based on these findings, the ecliptic pHluorin allows us to investigate and acid production and distribution by the cariogenic species .