Dental News - New study offers insights into development of complex microbial communities in oral cavity

Dental Tribune International

Wed. 15. May 2019

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MINNEAPOLIS, U.S.: University of Minnesota researchers have studied how oral bacteria adhere to surfaces and develop biofilms in the oral cavity. In the course of the study, they discovered a previously unknown signaling pathway that regulates surface proteins on bacteria. The research team is hopeful that the results of the study could help identify new targets for antibiotics.

The aim of the study was to learn whether and how the bacterial cells might adjust their adhesive surface proteins. The researchers collected whole unstimulated saliva and supragingival plaque samples from five adult volunteers on at least two occasions. Volunteers were asked not to brush their teeth for 24 hours before each sample collection.

In the course of the study, the researchers discovered a previously unknown circuit that is embedded in the cell membrane and can signal for changes in the surface adhesive proteins. This circuit appears to be conserved among a subset of Gram-positive bacteria. According to the researchers, the intramembrane bacterial signaling system calls for different surface proteins to compensate in the absence of primary surface proteins and provides compensatory biofilm formation.

Such a mechanism appears to function both in microbial communities in vitro and in the human mouth. Genes encoding surface adhesive proteins differ when the bacteria are recovered from saliva versus dental plaque in the same person concurrently. When activated, this circuit rescued biofilm formation, helping bacteria to survive in dental plaque. “Discovering this previously unknown signaling pathway that regulates surface proteins on bacteria may help us to understand better how complex microbial communities develop and offer new targets for antibiotics,” said Dr. Mark Herzberg, a professor in the Department of Oral Sciences at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry and a member of the Masonic Cancer Center at the university.

The study, titled “An intramembrane sensory circuit monitors sortase A–mediated processing of streptococcal adhesins,” was published on May 7, 2019, in Science Signaling.

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