Streptococcus pyogenes frequently causes purulent infections in humans. Biofilm formation is an important virulence property of S. pyogenes because of decreased susceptibility of bacteria to antibiotic treatment. Biof...Streptococcus pyogenes frequently causes purulent infections in humans. Biofilm formation is an important virulence property of S. pyogenes because of decreased susceptibility of bacteria to antibiotic treatment. Biofilm is composed of various types of matrix including glycocalyx which is an important exocellular matrix material related to bacterial sugar metabolism. A putative antiterminator protein, LicT (Spy0571), is one of the components of the glucose-independent β-gluco-side-specific phosphotransferase system (PTS). Although the PTS, a carbohydrate metabolic system, may play a role in biofilm formation, the relationship between LicT and biofilm formation has not yet been elucidated. Here, we evaluated whether LicT affected biofilm formation in modified chemically defined medium (CDMM) supplemented with glucose or β-glucoside:salicin. We created licT- and licT-complemented mutant strains from S. pyogenes 1529. Although the licT mutant strain tended to have higher growth rate than wild-typestrain in CDMM with glucose, it had a significant lower growth rate than the wild-type strain in CDMM with salicin. In addition, the licT mutant exhibited lower biofilm formation in CDMM containing salicin than the wild-type strain by 96 well plate analysis and confocal laser scanning microscopic analysis. Our results suggest that LicT plays an important role in biofilm formation of S. pyogenes.展开更多
文摘Streptococcus pyogenes frequently causes purulent infections in humans. Biofilm formation is an important virulence property of S. pyogenes because of decreased susceptibility of bacteria to antibiotic treatment. Biofilm is composed of various types of matrix including glycocalyx which is an important exocellular matrix material related to bacterial sugar metabolism. A putative antiterminator protein, LicT (Spy0571), is one of the components of the glucose-independent β-gluco-side-specific phosphotransferase system (PTS). Although the PTS, a carbohydrate metabolic system, may play a role in biofilm formation, the relationship between LicT and biofilm formation has not yet been elucidated. Here, we evaluated whether LicT affected biofilm formation in modified chemically defined medium (CDMM) supplemented with glucose or β-glucoside:salicin. We created licT- and licT-complemented mutant strains from S. pyogenes 1529. Although the licT mutant strain tended to have higher growth rate than wild-typestrain in CDMM with glucose, it had a significant lower growth rate than the wild-type strain in CDMM with salicin. In addition, the licT mutant exhibited lower biofilm formation in CDMM containing salicin than the wild-type strain by 96 well plate analysis and confocal laser scanning microscopic analysis. Our results suggest that LicT plays an important role in biofilm formation of S. pyogenes.
