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Molecular Typing of Streptococcus mutans

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Molecular Typing in Bacterial Infections

Part of the book series: Infectious Disease ((ID))

Abstract

Streptococcus mutans, a gram-positive facultative anaerobic bacterium, is one of the members of the mutans streptococci group, which is known to be a major pathogen of dental caries and a possible causative agent of infective endocarditis. Recent developments using molecular biological techniques enable to identify S. mutans in clinical specimens by PCR using species-specific sets of primers without direct isolation of the strains. S. mutans is classified into c/e/f/k serotypes based upon the chemical composition of the cell surface polysaccharide antigens. Serotypes in the clinical specimens can be easily determined by PCR using serotype-specific sets of primers. There are a large number of studies showing the association of the cell surface protein antigens and virulence for dental caries and infective endocarditis, whereas only a few reports document the molecular methods for identifying the strains with specific protein antigens related to the virulence of the specimens. The arbitrarily primed PCR (AP-PCR) method is one of the most common approaches for various types of studies with S. mutans, especially those investigating the strains transmitted from mothers to their children by comparing fingerprinting patterns. More recently, the multilocus sequence typing method, one of the molecular epidemiological approaches, was developed for S. mutans. Using this system, S. mutans could be classified into a large number of sequence types, which yields higher discriminatory power. Taken together, the molecular typing methods for S. mutans which have now been developed and widely used could lead to initiation of clinical applications as well as tools for basic research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Oral Infections and Disease Control, Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Osaka University Graduate School of Dentistry, 1-8 Yamada-oka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan

    Kazuhiko Nakano & Takashi Ooshima

  2. Section of Bacterial Pathogenesis, Tokyo Medical and Dental University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo, Japan

    Ichiro Nakagawa

  3. Department of Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry, Institute of Dentistry, University of Helsinki, and Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Diseases, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland

    Satu Alaluusua

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  1. Kazuhiko Nakano
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  2. Ichiro Nakagawa
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  3. Satu Alaluusua
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  4. Takashi Ooshima
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Correspondence to Kazuhiko Nakano .

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  1. Instituto Nacional de Controle de, Qualidade em Saúde, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (FIOCRUZ), Av. Brasil 4365, Rio de Janeiro, 21045-900, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Ivano de Filippis

  2. Microbiology, BioReliance Corporation, Broschart Road 14920, Rockville, 20850, Maryland, USA

    Marian L. McKee

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Nakano, K., Nakagawa, I., Alaluusua, S., Ooshima, T. (2013). Molecular Typing of Streptococcus mutans . In: de Filippis, I., McKee, M. (eds) Molecular Typing in Bacterial Infections. Infectious Disease. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-185-1_9

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