Characterizing the Mechanism of a S. mutans Specific Small Molecule

Objectives: Dental caries, commonly known as tooth decay, is the most prevalent infectious disease albeit being highly preventable. The Streptococcus mutans biofilm is a major risk factor for dental caries. To date, there has not been any success in the production of a species-specific therapy able to efficiently prevent dental caries. We identified a S. mutans-specific small molecule and characterized its mechanism in order to identify new biofilm-related targets for the development of more potent and effective therapies.
Methods: Conducted biofilm dispersion assays, confocal laser scanning microscopy, and molecular techniques such as cloning and qRT-PCR.
Results: We found a S. mutans double mutant of two hypothetical proteins to be completely resistant to treatment with our species-specific small molecule.
Conclusions: We identified a small molecule capable of selectively dispersing S. mutans biofilms in vitro and in vivo. Characterizing the target of our small molecule led to the identification of hypothetical proteins important for biofilm formation. Identifying such a unique target in S. mutans will allow us to design more selective small molecules for the inhibition of species specific biofilm while ultimately keeping the oral microbiome intact.