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Front Microbiol

Title:		Death and survival in Streptococcus mutans: differing outcomes of a quorum-sensing signaling peptide
Author(s):		Leung V; Dufour D; Levesque CM;
Address:		"Dental Research Institute, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto , Toronto, ON, Canada"
Journal Title:		Front Microbiol
Year:		2015
Volume:		20151023
Issue:
Page Number:		1176 -
DOI:		10.3389/fmicb.2015.01176
ISSN/ISBN:		1664-302X (Print) 1664-302X (Electronic) 1664-302X (Linking)
Abstract:		"Bacteria are considered 'social' organisms able to communicate with one another using small hormone-like molecules (pheromones) in a process called quorum-sensing (QS). These signaling molecules increase in concentration as a function of bacterial cell density. For most human pathogens, QS is critical for virulence and biofilm formation, and the opportunity to interfere with bacterial QS could provide a sophisticated means for manipulating the composition of pathogenic biofilms, and possibly eradicating the infection. Streptococcus mutans is a well-characterized resident of the dental plaque biofilm, and is the major pathogen of dental caries (cavities). In S. mutans, its CSP QS signaling peptide does not act as a classical QS signal by accumulating passively in proportion to cell density. In fact, particular stresses such as those encountered in the oral cavity, induce the production of the CSP pheromone, suggesting that the pheromone most probably functions as a stress-inducible alarmone by triggering the signaling to the bacterial population to initiate an adaptive response that results in different phenotypic outcomes. This mini-review discusses two different CSP-induced phenotypes, bacterial 'suicide' and dormancy, and the underlying mechanisms by which S. mutans utilizes the same QS signaling peptide to regulate two opposite phenotypes"
Keywords:		Streptococcus mutans bacterial suicide peptide pheromone persister cells phenotypic heterogeneity quorum-sensing stress response;
Notes:		"PubMed-not-MEDLINELeung, Vincent Dufour, Delphine Levesque, Celine M eng Review Switzerland 2015/11/12 Front Microbiol. 2015 Oct 23; 6:1176. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2015.01176. eCollection 2015"