The discovery of molecules that inhibit oral biofilm formation by inhibiting cell-to-cell communication

我们最初通过修改自动诱导-2 （AI-2）的化学结构产生了几种类似物。我们通过检测海洋发光细菌harveyi弧菌的发光活性来检测这些类似物的抑制活性。在合成的类似物中，我们选择了抑制紫花苜蓿发光活性的类似物。利用所选择的类似物，我们分析了这些类似物对口腔链球菌生物膜形成的抑制作用，包括变形链球菌，一种人类龋齿物种。一些类似物抑制了这些细菌的生物膜形成，尽管一些抑制变形链球菌生物膜形成的类似物并不抑制其他链球菌的生物膜形成。我们无法找到一种适用于所有口服链球菌的共同抑制剂。现在我们正在分析这些类似物在变形链球菌葡萄糖基转移酶（GTF）基因表达中的作用及其在变形链球菌生物膜形成中的作用。

We initially produced several analogues by modifying the chemical structures of autoinducer-2 (AI-2). We examined the inhibitory activities of these analogues by examining the luminescence activities of Vibrio harveyi, a luminescent marine bacterium species. Of the analogues synthesized, we chose those that inhibited the luminescence activities of V.harveyi. Using the selected analogues, we analyzed the inhibitory effects of these analogues on biofilm formation by oral streptococci, including Streptococcus mutans, a human cariogenic species. Some of the analogues inhibited biofilm formation by these bacteria, although some of the analogues that inhibited biofilm formation by S. mutans did not inhibit biofilm formation by other streptococci. We could not find a common inhibitor for all oral streptococci. Now we are analyzing the role of these analogues in the expression of S.mutans glucosyltransferase (GTF) genes and their function in biofilm formation by S.mutans.