Comprehensive mutational analysis of sucrose-metabolizing pathways in Streptococcus mutans reveals novel roles for the sucrose phosphotransferase system permease.

Abstract excerpt

Sucrose is perhaps the most efficient carbohydrate for the promotion of dental caries in humans, and the primary caries pathogen Streptococcus mutans encodes multiple enzymes involved in the metabolism of this disaccharide. Here, we engineered a series of mutants lacking individual or combinations of sucrolytic pathways to understand the control of sucrose catabolism and to determine whether as-yet-undisclosed...

Topics

• Bacterial Proteins
• Carbohydrate Metabolism
• Cell Proliferation
• DNA, Bacterial
• Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial
• Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic
• Membrane Transport Proteins
• Mutation
• Phosphotransferases
• Streptococcus mutans
• Sucrose
• Time Factors