Isolation of a Novel Phage with Activity against Streptococcus mutans Biofilms

Marion Dalmasso; Eric de Haas; Horst Neve; Ronan Strain; Fabien J Cousin; Stephen R Stockdale; R Paul Ross; Colin Hill

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0138651

Isolation of a Novel Phage with Activity against Streptococcus mutans Biofilms

PLoS One. 2015 Sep 23;10(9):e0138651. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0138651. eCollection 2015.

Authors

Marion Dalmasso¹, Eric de Haas¹, Horst Neve², Ronan Strain¹, Fabien J Cousin¹, Stephen R Stockdale³, R Paul Ross¹, Colin Hill¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Microbiology, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland; APC Microbiome Institute, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
² Department of Microbiology and Biotechnology, Max Rubner-Institut, Kiel, Germany.
³ APC Microbiome Institute, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland; Teagasc Biotechnology Centre, Moorepark Food Research Centre, Fermoy, Co. Cork, Ireland.

Abstract

Streptococcus mutans is one of the principal agents of caries formation mainly, because of its ability to form biofilms at the tooth surface. Bacteriophages (phages) are promising antimicrobial agents that could be used to prevent or treat caries formation by S. mutans. The aim of this study was to isolate new S. mutans phages and to characterize their antimicrobial properties. A new phage, ɸAPCM01, was isolated from a human saliva sample. Its genome was closely related to the only two other available S. mutans phage genomes, M102 and M102AD. ɸAPCM01 inhibited the growth of S. mutans strain DPC6143 within hours in broth and in artificial saliva at multiplicity of infections as low as 2.5x10-5. In the presence of phage ɸAPCM01 the metabolic activity of a S. mutans biofilm was reduced after 24 h of contact and did not increased again after 48 h, and the live cells in the biofilm decreased by at least 5 log cfu/ml. Despite its narrow host range, this newly isolated S. mutans phage exhibits promising antimicrobial properties.

Publication types

Comparative Study
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Biofilms*
Humans
Microscopy, Electron, Transmission
Molecular Sequence Data
Saliva / virology
Streptococcus Phages / physiology*
Streptococcus Phages / ultrastructure
Streptococcus mutans / virology*

Associated data

GENBANK/KR153145

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Science Foundation Ireland SFI/12/RC/2273. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.