Summary auto-generated
This study examined the presence of polyglycerolphosphate-containing lipoteichoic acid (PGP-LTA) in oral streptococci using a monoclonal antibody-based immunoassay. Researchers screened 86 strains representing all currently recognized human oral streptococcal species using phenol extracts of lyophilized cells and a competitive ELISA method with a PGP-specific monoclonal antibody (OMVU13). All tested strains synthesized PGP-LTA except for Streptococcus mitis and Streptococcus oralis strains, which were notably absent of this compound. These findings confirm previous research and align with recent taxonomic revisions of oral streptococci. The lack of PGP-LTA in S. mitis and S. oralis is consistent with their close phylogenetic relationship to Streptococcus pneumoniae, which also differs in this respect from other oral streptococci. The results support the use of LTA types as chemotaxonomic markers for distinguishing between closely related streptococcal species and suggest that the two non-PGP-LTA-producing species may possess alternative macroamphiphiles similar to S. pneumoniae, which contains choline-containing compounds instead.
Key findings
- PGP-LTA was detected in 84 of 86 oral streptococcal strains, with all tested species producing it except S. mitis and S. oralis
- The absence of PGP-LTA in S. mitis and S. oralis reflects their close evolutionary relationship to S. pneumoniae, forming a phylogenetic cluster with 99% 16S rRNA sequence homology
- S. mitis and S. oralis likely produce alternative choline-containing macroamphiphiles similar to S. pneumoniae rather than PGP-LTA
- Lipoteichoic acid composition can serve as a useful chemotaxonomic marker to distinguish between closely related streptococcal species
- The findings support recent taxonomic revisions of oral streptococci that reclassified several species
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Abstract
The heterogeneous bacterial group known as oral streptococci was screened for the presence of cellular polyglycerolphosphate-containing lipoteichoic acid. This compound was detected in phenol extracts of lyophilized cells by an immunoassay in which polyglycerolphosphate-specific monoclonal antibody was used. Polyglycerolphosphate-containing lipoteichoic acid occurred in all 86 strains of oral streptococci examined except the Streptococcus mitis and Streptococcus oralis strains. This confirms the findings of Rosan (B. Rosan, Science 201:918-920, 1978) and Hamada et al. (S. Hamada, J. Mizuno, S. Kotani, and M. Torii, FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 8:93-96, 1980), is consistent with the results of the taxonomic study of oral streptococci performed by Kilian et al. (M. Kilian, L. Mikkelsen. and J. Henrichsen, Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 39:471-484, 1989), who emended the descriptions of Streptococcus sanguis, S. oralis, and S. mitis, and reflects the phylogenetic relationship among S. mitis, S. oralis, and Streptococcus pneumoniae.