본 연구에서는 한국인 아동의 우식치아로부터 S. mutans를 분리하고, acid stress하에서 분리한 S. mutans의 내산성 능력과 관련된 단백질을 규명하고자 하였다. 2D gel electrophoresis를 수행한 결과, acid stress동안 elongation factor Ts, hypothetical protein, putative amino acid ABC transporter, adenylate kinase, fructokinase, Putative 40K cell well protein precursor, peptide deformylase, shikimate 5-dehydrogenase, mannose-6-phosphate isomerase, threonine synthase, putative dTDP-glucose-4,6-dehydratase의 발현량이 뚜렷이 증가하였으며 이들 단백질은 acid stress에 관여하는 단백질들로 추정된다. In this study, we are interested in comparing the protein profiles of acid-shocked and control cells of S. mutans isolated from Korean children with caries. The results of 2D gel electrophoresis showed that twelve proteins are up-regulated when the cells were grown under 20 mM lactic acid stress in the exponential phase. Up-proteins under acid stress were estimated a major key of the survival and proliferation of S. mutans in low pH environments. These proteins are estimated generally associated with three biochemical pathways: glycolysis, alternative acid production and branched-chain amino acid biosynthesis.