{"doi":"10.1099/mic.0.031310-0","title":"Influence of a model human defensive peroxidase system on oral streptococcal antagonism","abstract":"<jats:p><jats:italic>Streptococcus</jats:italic>is a dominant genus in the human oral cavity, making up about 20 % of the more than 800 species of bacteria that have been identified, and about 80 % of the early biofilm colonizers. Oral streptococci include both health-compatible (e.g.<jats:italic>Streptococcus gordonii</jats:italic>and<jats:italic>Streptococcus sanguinis</jats:italic>) and pathogenic strains (e.g. the cariogenic<jats:italic>Streptococcus mutans</jats:italic>). Because the streptococci have similar metabolic requirements, they have developed defence strategies that lead to antagonism (also known as bacterial interference).<jats:italic>S. mutans</jats:italic>expresses bacteriocins that are cytotoxic toward<jats:italic>S. gordonii</jats:italic>and<jats:italic>S. sanguinis</jats:italic>, whereas<jats:italic>S. gordonii</jats:italic>and<jats:italic>S. sanguinis</jats:italic>differentially produce H<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>O<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>(under aerobic growth conditions), which is relatively toxic toward<jats:italic>S. mutans</jats:italic>. Superimposed on the inter-bacterial combat are the effects of the host defensive mechanisms. We report here on the multifarious effects of bovine lactoperoxidase (bLPO) on the antagonism between<jats:italic>S. gordonii</jats:italic>and<jats:italic>S. sanguinis</jats:italic>versus<jats:italic>S. mutans</jats:italic>. Some of the effects are apparently counterproductive with respect to maintaining a health-compatible population of streptococci. For example, the bLPO system (comprised of bLPO+SCN<jats:sup>−</jats:sup>+H<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>O<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>) destroys H<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>O<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>, thereby abolishing the ability of<jats:italic>S. gordonii</jats:italic>and<jats:italic>S. sanguinis</jats:italic>to inhibit the growth of<jats:italic>S. mutans</jats:italic>. Furthermore, bLPO protein (with or without its substrate) inhibits bacterial growth in a biofilm assay, but sucrose negates the inhibitory effects of the bLPO protein, thereby facilitating adherence of<jats:italic>S. mutans</jats:italic>in lieu of<jats:italic>S. gordonii</jats:italic>and<jats:italic>S. sanguinis</jats:italic>. Our findings may be relevant to environmental pressures that select early supragingival colonizers.</jats:p>","journal":"Microbiology","year":2009,"id":595686,"datarank":0.5742962094733643,"base_score":3.828641396489095,"endowment":3.828641396489095,"self_citation_contribution":0.5742962094733643,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.5742962094733643,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":45,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":325131,"name":"Jens Kreth","orcid":"0000-0002-8599-8310","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1525485,"name":"Muthu Soundarajan","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1525490,"name":"Laure Sita Sivuilu","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1525480,"name":"Michael T. Ashby","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"resolved":true,"title":"Influence of a model human defensive peroxidase system on oral streptococcal antagonism","abstract":"<jats:p><jats:italic>Streptococcus</jats:italic>is a dominant genus in the human oral cavity, making up about 20 % of the more than 800 species of bacteria that have been identified, and about 80 % of the early biofilm colonizers. Oral streptococci include both health-compatible (e.g.<jats:italic>Streptococcus gordonii</jats:italic>and<jats:italic>Streptococcus sanguinis</jats:italic>) and pathogenic strains (e.g. the cariogenic<jats:italic>Streptococcus mutans</jats:italic>). Because the streptococci have similar metabolic requirements, they have developed defence strategies that lead to antagonism (also known as bacterial interference).<jats:italic>S. mutans</jats:italic>expresses bacteriocins that are cytotoxic toward<jats:italic>S. gordonii</jats:italic>and<jats:italic>S. sanguinis</jats:italic>, whereas<jats:italic>S. gordonii</jats:italic>and<jats:italic>S. sanguinis</jats:italic>differentially produce H<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>O<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>(under aerobic growth conditions), which is relatively toxic toward<jats:italic>S. mutans</jats:italic>. Superimposed on the inter-bacterial combat are the effects of the host defensive mechanisms. We report here on the multifarious effects of bovine lactoperoxidase (bLPO) on the antagonism between<jats:italic>S. gordonii</jats:italic>and<jats:italic>S. sanguinis</jats:italic>versus<jats:italic>S. mutans</jats:italic>. Some of the effects are apparently counterproductive with respect to maintaining a health-compatible population of streptococci. For example, the bLPO system (comprised of bLPO+SCN<jats:sup>−</jats:sup>+H<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>O<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>) destroys H<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>O<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>, thereby abolishing the ability of<jats:italic>S. gordonii</jats:italic>and<jats:italic>S. sanguinis</jats:italic>to inhibit the growth of<jats:italic>S. mutans</jats:italic>. Furthermore, bLPO protein (with or without its substrate) inhibits bacterial growth in a biofilm assay, but sucrose negates the inhibitory effects of the bLPO protein, thereby facilitating adherence of<jats:italic>S. mutans</jats:italic>in lieu of<jats:italic>S. gordonii</jats:italic>and<jats:italic>S. sanguinis</jats:italic>. Our findings may be relevant to environmental pressures that select early supragingival colonizers.</jats:p>","is_dataset_classified":null,"base_score":3.828641396489095,"endowment":3.828641396489095,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"19684069","pmcid":"PMC2888128","openalex_id":"https://openalex.org/W2124206580","authors":[],"funders":[{"funder_name":"NIDCR NIH HHS","grant_id":"1K99DE018400-01","title":null},{"funder_name":"NIDCR NIH HHS","grant_id":"R00 DE018400","title":null},{"funder_name":"NIDCR NIH HHS","grant_id":"K99 DE018400","title":null},{"funder_name":"NIDCR NIH HHS","grant_id":"R21 DE016889-01A2","title":null},{"funder_name":"NIDCR NIH HHS","grant_id":"R21 DE016889","title":null}],"total_grants":5,"fwci":1.9059,"citation_percentile":0.83054937,"influential_citations":0,"citation_trend":[{"year":2012,"count":1},{"year":2013,"count":1},{"year":2014,"count":3},{"year":2015,"count":1},{"year":2017,"count":4},{"year":2018,"count":5},{"year":2019,"count":1},{"year":2020,"count":2},{"year":2021,"count":4},{"year":2022,"count":5},{"year":2023,"count":4},{"year":2024,"count":3},{"year":2025,"count":3},{"year":2026,"count":1}],"oa_status":"green","license":null,"oa_locations":[{"url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/2888128","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/2888128","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.031310-0?crawler=true","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.031310-0","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19684069","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.614.2370","host_type":""}],"fields_of_study":["Oral microbiology and periodontitis research","Neutrophil, Myeloperoxidase and Oxidative Mechanisms","Infective Endocarditis Diagnosis and Management"],"mesh_terms":["Animals","Antibiosis","Catalase","Cattle","Hydrogen Peroxide","Lactoperoxidase","Mouth","Streptococcus mutans","Streptococcus sanguis","Thiocyanates","Biofilms","Streptococcus gordonii"],"keywords":["Streptococcus gordonii","Streptococcus sanguinis","Streptococcus mutans","Microbiology","Antagonism","Biofilm","Antibiosis","Biology","Dental plaque","Bacteria","Streptococcaceae","Biochemistry","Genetics","Antibiotics"],"sdg_mappings":[{"sdg_number":0,"sdg_label":"Life in Land"}],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-07-27T17:46:40.393961Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}