Abstract
BackgroundThe increase in bacterial resistance to antibiotics impels the development of new anti-bacterial substances. Mutacins (bacteriocins) are small antibacterial peptides produced by Streptococcus mutans showing activity against bacterial pathogens. The objective of the study was to produce and characterise additional mutacins in order to find new useful antibacterial substances.ResultsMutacin F-59.1 was produced in liquid media by S. mutans 59.1 while production of mutacin D-123.1 by S. mutans 123.1 was obtained in semi-solid media. Mutacins were purified by hydrophobic chromatography. The amino acid sequences of the mutacins were obtained by Edman degradation and their molecular mass was determined by mass spectrometry. Mutacin F-59.1 consists of 25 amino acids, containing the YGNGV consensus sequence of pediocin-like bacteriocins with a molecular mass calculated at 2719 Da. Mutacin D-123.1 has an identical molecular mass (2364 Da) with the same first 9 amino acids as mutacin I. Mutacins D-123.1 and F-59.1 have wide activity spectra inhibiting human and food-borne pathogens. The lantibiotic mutacin D-123.1 possesses a broader activity spectrum than mutacin F-59.1 against the bacterial strains tested.ConclusionMutacin F-59.1 is the first pediocin-like bacteriocin identified and characterised that is produced by Streptococcus mutans. Mutacin D-123.1 appears to be identical to mutacin I previously identified in different strains of S. mutans.
Highlights
The increase in bacterial resistance to antibiotics impels the development of new anti-bacterial substances
Mutacin F-59.1 was produced in supplemented whey permeate (SWP) and the activity was measured as 400 arbitrary units (AU)/mL while production of mutacin D-123.1 was achieved in semi-solid medium by using tryptic soy with yeast extract containing agarose
A total of 25 amino acids were sequenced for mutacin F-59.1 and its identity with pediocin-like bacteriocins was confirmed by multiple alignment (Figure 3)
Summary
The increase in bacterial resistance to antibiotics impels the development of new anti-bacterial substances. Mutacins (bacteriocins) are small antibacterial peptides produced by Streptococcus mutans showing activity against bacterial pathogens. The objective of the study was to produce and characterise additional mutacins in order to find new useful antibacterial substances. The main objective of our research is to further characterise mutacins to uncover new useful antibacterial substances active against bacterial pathogens. We previously classified 86 mutacin-producing strains into 24 groups (designated A to X) and subsequently seven clusters of activity were defined from the 24 type strains. This grouping was based only on their activity spectra towards other mutacinogenic strains and against various bacterial species including pathogens [8,11]. We present here results on the production, purification and characterisation of mutacins F-59.1 and D-123.1
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