Barbara Brzychczy-Sroka, Katarzyna Talaga-Ćwiertnia, Agnieszka Sroka-Oleksiak, Artur Gurgul, Elżbieta Zarzecka-Francica, Wojciech Ostrowski, Janusz Kąkol, Joanna Zarzecka, Monika Brzychczy-Włoch
{"title":"Oral microbiota study of the patients after hospitalisation for COVID-19, considering selected dental indices and antibiotic therapy using the next generation sequencing method (NGS).","authors":"Barbara Brzychczy-Sroka, Katarzyna Talaga-Ćwiertnia, Agnieszka Sroka-Oleksiak, Artur Gurgul, Elżbieta Zarzecka-Francica, Wojciech Ostrowski, Janusz Kąkol, Joanna Zarzecka, Monika Brzychczy-Włoch","doi":"10.1080/20002297.2023.2264591","DOIUrl":"10.1080/20002297.2023.2264591","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Poor oral hygiene and the increased incidence and severity of periodontitis may exacerbate SARS-CoV-2 infection. The aim was to evaluate the oral microbiota of 60 participants divided into groups: COVID-19 convalescents who received antibiotics during hospitalization (I), COVID-19 convalescents without antibiotic therapy (II) and healthy individuals (III).</p><p><strong>Materials and methods: </strong>Dental examination was conducted, and oral health status was evaluated using selected dental indexes. Clinical samples (saliva, dorsal swabs, supragingival and subgingival plaque) were collected and used for metagenomic library to the next-generation sequencing (NGS) preparation.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Each of the clinical materials in particular groups of patients showed a statistically significant and quantitatively different bacterial composition. Patients from group I showed significantly worse oral health, reflected by higher average values of dental indexes and also a higher percentage of Veillonella, Tannerella, Capnocytophaga and Selenomonas genera in comparison to other groups. Additionally, a statistically significant decrease in the amount of Akkermansia type in both groups with COVID-19 was observed for all materials.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The primary factor affecting the composition of oral microbiota was not the SARS-CoV-2 infection itself, but the use of antibiotic therapy. The increased percentage of pro-inflammatory pathogens observed in COVID-19 patients underscores the importance of preventing periodontal disease and improving oral hygiene in the future.</p>","PeriodicalId":16598,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Oral Microbiology","volume":"15 1","pages":"2264591"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2023-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/b3/cd/ZJOM_15_2264591.PMC10569355.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41236167","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cong Wang, Yaohua Yang, Qiuyin Cai, Yutang Gao, Hui Cai, Jie Wu, Wei Zheng, Jirong Long, Xiao-Ou Shu
{"title":"Oral microbiome and ischemic stroke risk among elderly Chinese women.","authors":"Cong Wang, Yaohua Yang, Qiuyin Cai, Yutang Gao, Hui Cai, Jie Wu, Wei Zheng, Jirong Long, Xiao-Ou Shu","doi":"10.1080/20002297.2023.2266655","DOIUrl":"10.1080/20002297.2023.2266655","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Stroke, a leading cause of disability worldwide, has been associated with periodontitis. However, whether stroke risk is related to oral microbiota remains unknown. This study aims to evaluate the associations between the oral microbiome and ischemic stroke risk.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>In a case-control study of 134 case-control pairs nested within a prospective cohort study, we examined pre-diagnostic oral microbiome in association with stroke risk via shotgun metagenomic sequencing. The microbial sub-community and functional profiling were performed using Latent Dirichlet Allocation and HUMAnN2. Associations of microbial diversity, sub-community structure, and individual microbial features with ischemic stroke risk were evaluated via conditional logistic regression.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Alpha and beta diversities differ significantly between cases and controls. One genus- and two species-level sub-communities were significantly associated with decreased ischemic stroke risk, with odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) of 0.52 (0.31-0.90), 0.51 (0.31-0.84), and 0.60 (0.36-0.99), respectively. These associations were potentially driven by the representative taxa in these sub-communities, <i>i.e</i>., genus <i>Corynebacterium</i> and <i>Lautropia</i>, and species <i>Lautropia mirabilis</i> and <i>Neisseria elongate</i> (<i>p</i> < 0.05). Additionally, 55 taxa, 1,237 gene families, and 90 metabolic pathways were associated with ischemic stroke risk at <i>p</i> < 0.05.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Our study highlights the role of oral microbiota in the etiology of ischemic stroke and calls for further research.</p>","PeriodicalId":16598,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Oral Microbiology","volume":"15 1","pages":"2266655"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2023-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/f1/40/ZJOM_15_2266655.PMC10563620.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41203528","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yiting Liu, Hang Liu, Yuping Rong, Qiao Shi, Qiang Yang, Hanjun Li, Zhengle Zhang, Jing Tao
{"title":"Alterations of oral microbiota are associated with the development and severity of acute pancreatitis.","authors":"Yiting Liu, Hang Liu, Yuping Rong, Qiao Shi, Qiang Yang, Hanjun Li, Zhengle Zhang, Jing Tao","doi":"10.1080/20002297.2023.2264619","DOIUrl":"10.1080/20002297.2023.2264619","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a common abdomen clinical emergency. Most APs have mild clinical symptoms and a good prognosis. However, about 20% of patients develop severe acute pancreatitis (SAP), increasing morbidity and mortality. The microbiome's impact on AP pathophysiology has received increasing attention. Hence, to explore changes in oral microbial composition in acute pancreatitis, we collected clinical information and oral saliva samples from 136 adult participants: 47 healthy controls, 43 acute mild AP (MAP), 29 moderate AP (MSAP), and 17 severe AP (SAP). Using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, 663,175 high-quality sequences were identified. The relative abundance and diversity of oral microorganisms in AP patients increased, with decreased beneficial bacteria such as <i>Streptococcus</i>, <i>Neisseria</i>, and <i>Gemella</i>, and increased <i>Prevotella, Veillonella, Granulicatella, Actinomyces</i>, and <i>Peptostreptococcus</i> in the AP group. Further changes in microbial composition occurred with increasing disease severity, including a decreased abundance of beneficial bacteria such as <i>Neisseria, Haemophilus</i>, and <i>Gemella</i> in MSAP and SAP compared to MAP. Moreover, the Lefse analysis showed that <i>Prevotella, Peptostreptococcus, Actinomyces</i>, and <i>Porphyromonas</i> were better microbial markers for AP. Therefore, oral microbiome changes could distinguish AP from healthy individuals and serve as an early novel predictor of disease severity in AP patients.</p>","PeriodicalId":16598,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Oral Microbiology","volume":"15 1","pages":"2264619"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2023-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10557549/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41148060","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sheila Galvin, Sviatlana Anishchuk, Claire M Healy, Gary P Moran
{"title":"Smoking, tooth loss and oral hygiene practices have significant and site-specific impacts on the microbiome of oral mucosal surfaces: a cross-sectional study.","authors":"Sheila Galvin, Sviatlana Anishchuk, Claire M Healy, Gary P Moran","doi":"10.1080/20002297.2023.2263971","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20002297.2023.2263971","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>We investigated bacterial colonisation patterns of healthy mucosa (buccal, tongue, palate and floor of mouth) in a cohort of adults in order to determine how smoking, tooth loss, plaque levels and oral hygiene practices impacted on mucosal colonisation. A total of 322 swabs were recovered from 256 participants, of whom 46% were current smokers. We analysed colonization by sequencing the V1-V3 regions of the 16S rRNA gene. Palate and tongue microbiomes generally exhibited greater biodiversity than buccal and floor of mouth. Although <i>Neisseria</i>, <i>Lautropia</i> and <i>Haemophilus</i> spp. showed reduced abundance in smokers, buccal mucosa specifically showed a significant increase in <i>Prevotella</i> spp., whereas tongue and floor of mouth tended towards increased abundance of <i>Streptococcus</i> spp. Unexpectedly, tooth brushing frequency had a greater impact on mucosal community structure than plaque levels. Tooth loss was associated with significant reductions in mucosal biodiversity and had site-specific impacts, with buccal communities showing increased abundance of periodontitis-associated species and <i>Rothia mucilaginosa</i>, whereas tongue communities exhibited increased abundance of several streptococcal OTUs and reduced abundance of <i>Haemophilus</i> spp. This study highlights the complex relationship between mucosal colonisation and host factors, highlighting the need for careful consideration of these factors in mucosal microbiome studies.</p>","PeriodicalId":16598,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Oral Microbiology","volume":"15 1","pages":"2263971"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2023-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10547447/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41117651","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Julian Torres-Morales, Jessica L Mark Welch, Floyd E Dewhirst, Gary G Borisy
{"title":"Site-specialization of human oral <i>Gemella</i> species.","authors":"Julian Torres-Morales, Jessica L Mark Welch, Floyd E Dewhirst, Gary G Borisy","doi":"10.1080/20002297.2023.2225261","DOIUrl":"10.1080/20002297.2023.2225261","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p><i>Gemella</i> species are core members of the human oral microbiome in healthy subjects and are regarded as commensals, although they can cause opportunistic infections. Our objective was to evaluate the site-specialization of <i>Gemella</i> species among various habitats within the mouth by combining pangenomics and metagenomics. With pangenomics, we identified genome relationships and categorized genes as core and accessory to each species. With metagenomics, we identified the primary oral habitat of individual genomes. Our results establish that the genomes of three species, <i>G. haemolysans</i>, <i>G. sanguinis</i> and <i>G. morbillorum</i>, are abundant and prevalent in human mouths at different oral sites: <i>G. haemolysans</i> on buccal mucosa and keratinized gingiva; <i>G. sanguinis</i> on tongue dorsum, throat, and tonsils; and <i>G. morbillorum</i> in dental plaque. The gene-level basis of site-specificity was investigated by identifying genes that were core to <i>Gemella</i> genomes at a specific oral site but absent from other <i>Gemella</i> genomes. The riboflavin biosynthesis pathway was present in <i>G. haemolysans</i> genomes associated with buccal mucosa but absent from the rest of the genomes. Overall, metapangenomics show that <i>Gemella</i> species have clear ecological preferences in the oral cavity of healthy humans and provides an approach to identifying gene-level drivers of site specificity.</p>","PeriodicalId":16598,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Oral Microbiology","volume":"15 1","pages":"2225261"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2023-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/23/ff/ZJOM_15_2225261.PMC10288933.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10530228","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Felix Ellett, Nazli I Kacamak, Carla R Alvarez, Eduardo H S Oliveira, Hatice Hasturk, Bruce J Paster, Alpdogan Kantarci, Daniel Irimia
{"title":"<i>Fusobacterium nucleatum</i> dissemination by neutrophils.","authors":"Felix Ellett, Nazli I Kacamak, Carla R Alvarez, Eduardo H S Oliveira, Hatice Hasturk, Bruce J Paster, Alpdogan Kantarci, Daniel Irimia","doi":"10.1080/20002297.2023.2217067","DOIUrl":"10.1080/20002297.2023.2217067","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Recent studies uncovered that <i>Fusobacterium nucleatum (Fn)</i>, a common, opportunistic bacterium in the oral cavity, is associated with a growing number of systemic diseases, ranging from colon cancer to Alzheimer's disease. However, the pathological mechanisms responsible for this association are still poorly understood. Here, we leverage recent technological advances to study the interactions between Fn and neutrophils. We show that Fn survives within human neutrophils after phagocytosis. Using in vitro microfluidic devices, we determine that human neutrophils can protect and transport Fn over large distances. Moreover, we validate these observations in vivo by showing that neutrophils disseminate Fn using a zebrafish model. Our data support the emerging hypothesis that bacterial dissemination by neutrophils is a mechanistic link between oral and systemic diseases. Furthermore, our results may ultimately lead to therapeutic approaches that target specific host-bacteria interactions, including the dissemination process.</p>","PeriodicalId":16598,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Oral Microbiology","volume":"15 1","pages":"2217067"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2023-06-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/f7/7c/ZJOM_15_2217067.PMC10240972.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10174574","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jett Liu, Camden Carmichael, Hatice Hasturk, Wenyuan Shi, Batbileg Bor
{"title":"Rapid specific detection of oral bacteria using Cas13-based SHERLOCK.","authors":"Jett Liu, Camden Carmichael, Hatice Hasturk, Wenyuan Shi, Batbileg Bor","doi":"10.1080/20002297.2023.2207336","DOIUrl":"10.1080/20002297.2023.2207336","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Decades of ongoing research has established that oral microbial communities play a role in oral diseases such as periodontitis and caries. Yet the detection of oral bacteria and the profiling of oral polymicrobial communities currently rely on methods that are costly, slow, and technically complex, such as qPCR or next-generation sequencing. For the widescale screening of oral microorganisms suitable for point-of-care settings, there exists the need for a low-cost, rapid detection technique. Here, we tailored the novel CRISPR-Cas-based assay SHERLOCK for the species-specific detection of oral bacteria. We developed a computational pipeline capable of generating constructs suitable for SHERLOCK and experimentally validated the detection of seven oral bacteria. We achieved detection within the single-molecule range that remained specific in the presence of off-target DNA found within saliva. Further, we adapted the assay for detecting target sequences directly from unprocessed saliva samples. The results of our detection, when tested on 30 healthy human saliva samples, fully aligned with 16S rRNA sequencing. Looking forward, this method of detecting oral bacteria is highly scalable and can be easily optimized for implementation at point-of-care settings.</p>","PeriodicalId":16598,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Oral Microbiology","volume":"15 1","pages":"2207336"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2023-05-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10177689/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10174031","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ali A Abdulkareem, Firas B Al-Taweel, Ali J B Al-Sharqi, Sarhang S Gul, Aram Sha, Iain L C Chapple
{"title":"Current concepts in the pathogenesis of periodontitis: from symbiosis to dysbiosis.","authors":"Ali A Abdulkareem, Firas B Al-Taweel, Ali J B Al-Sharqi, Sarhang S Gul, Aram Sha, Iain L C Chapple","doi":"10.1080/20002297.2023.2197779","DOIUrl":"10.1080/20002297.2023.2197779","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The primary etiological agent for the initiation and progression of periodontal disease is the dental plaque biofilm which is an organized aggregation of microorganisms residing within a complex intercellular matrix. The non-specific plaque hypothesis was the first attempt to explain the role of the dental biofilm in the pathogenesis of periodontal diseases. However, the introduction of sophisticated diagnostic and laboratory assays has led to the realisation that the development of periodontitis requires more than a mere increase in the biomass of dental plaque. Indeed, multispecies biofilms exhibit complex interactions between the bacteria and the host. In addition, not all resident microorganisms within the biofilm are pathogenic, since beneficial bacteria exist that serve to maintain a symbiotic relationship between the plaque microbiome and the host's immune-inflammatory response, preventing the emergence of pathogenic microorganisms and the development of dysbiosis. This review aims to highlight the development and structure of the dental plaque biofilm and to explore current literature on the transition from a healthy (symbiotic) to a diseased (dysbiotic) biofilm in periodontitis and the associated immune-inflammatory responses that drive periodontal tissue destruction and form mechanistic pathways that impact other systemic non-communicable diseases.</p>","PeriodicalId":16598,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Oral Microbiology","volume":"15 1","pages":"2197779"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2023-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10071981/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9324578","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nele Fogelholm, Jaakko Leskelä, Muhammed Manzoor, Jacob Holmer, Susanna Paju, Kaija Hiltunen, Hanna-Maria Roitto, Riitta Kt Saarela, Kaisu Pitkälä, Maria Eriksdotter, Kåre Buhlin, Pirkko J Pussinen, Päivi Mäntylä
{"title":"Subgingival microbiome at different levels of cognition.","authors":"Nele Fogelholm, Jaakko Leskelä, Muhammed Manzoor, Jacob Holmer, Susanna Paju, Kaija Hiltunen, Hanna-Maria Roitto, Riitta Kt Saarela, Kaisu Pitkälä, Maria Eriksdotter, Kåre Buhlin, Pirkko J Pussinen, Päivi Mäntylä","doi":"10.1080/20002297.2023.2178765","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20002297.2023.2178765","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Oral health and declining cognition may have a bi-directional association. We characterized the subgingival microbiota composition of subjects from normal cognition to severe cognitive decline in two cohorts. Memory and Periodontitis (MINOPAR) include 202 home-living participants (50-80 years) in Sweden. Finnish Oral Health Studies in Older Adults (FINORAL) include 174 participants (≥65 years) living in long-term care in Finland. We performed oral examination and assessed the cognitive level with Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE). We sequenced the 16S-rRNA gene (V3-V4 regions) to analyse the subgingival bacterial compositions. The microbial diversities only tended to differ between the MMSE categories, and the strongest determinants were increased probing pocket depth (PPD) and presence of caries. However, abundances of 101 taxa were associated with the MMSE score. After adjusting for age, sex, medications, PPD, and caries, only eight taxa retained the significance in the meta-analyses of the two cohorts. Especially <i>Lachnospiraceae</i> [XIV] at the family, genus, and species level increased with decreasing MMSE. Cognitive decline is associated with obvious changes in the composition of the oral microbiota. Impaired cognition is accompanied with poor oral health status and the appearance of major taxa of the gut microbiota in the oral cavity. Good oral health-care practices require special deliberations among older adults.</p>","PeriodicalId":16598,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Oral Microbiology","volume":"15 1","pages":"2178765"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9946326/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10799406","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lucille Rudin, Michael M Bornstein, Viktoriya Shyp
{"title":"Inhibition of biofilm formation and virulence factors of cariogenic oral pathogen <i>Streptococcus mutans</i> by natural flavonoid phloretin.","authors":"Lucille Rudin, Michael M Bornstein, Viktoriya Shyp","doi":"10.1080/20002297.2023.2230711","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/20002297.2023.2230711","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>To evaluate the effect and mechanism of action of the flavonoid phloretin on the growth and sucrose-dependent biofilm formation of <i>Streptococcus mutans</i>.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Minimum inhibitory concentration, viability, and biofilm susceptibility assays were conducted to assess antimicrobial and antibiofilm effect of phloretin. Biofilm composition and structure were analysed with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). Water-soluble (WSG) and water-insoluble glucan (WIG) were determined using anthrone method. Lactic acid measurements and acid tolerance assay were performed to assess acidogenicity and aciduricity. Reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) was used to measure the expression of virulence genes essential for surface attachment, biofilm formation, and quorum sensing.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Phloretin inhibited <i>S. mutans</i> growth and viability in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, it reduced <i>gtfB</i> and <i>gtfC</i> gene expression, correlating with the reduction of extracellular polysaccharides (EPS)/bacteria and WIG/WSG ratio. Inhibition of <i>comED</i> and <i>luxS</i> gene expression, involved in stress tolerance, was associated with compromised acidogenicity and aciduricity of <i>S. mutans</i>.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Phloretin exhibits antibacterial properties against <i>S. mutans</i>, modulates acid production and tolerance, and reduces biofilm formation.</p><p><strong>Clinical significance: </strong>Phloretin is a promising natural compound with pronounced inhibitory effect on key virulence factors of the cariogenic pathogen, <i>S. mutans</i>.</p>","PeriodicalId":16598,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Oral Microbiology","volume":"15 1","pages":"2230711"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/8d/3a/ZJOM_15_2230711.PMC10321187.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10195137","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}