A study to develop a novel therapeutic/ preventive strategy for oral bacterial infectious diseases based on the obstruction of lipoprotein modification enzymes

本实验室主要从事致龋菌--变形链球菌表面脂蛋白的研究。到目前为止，我们已经确定和功能分析与糖和氨基酸摄取相关的脂蛋白。此外，这些脂蛋白已被阐明被脂蛋白修饰酶，前脂蛋白二酰基甘油转移酶（Lgt）和脂蛋白特异性信号肽酶II（LspA），这是非常重要的脂蛋白的生理功能的修饰。本研究证实，脂蛋白OpcC参与了链球菌的致龋特性之一的耐酸性。结果表明，Lgt和LspA共同调控脂蛋白OpcC的定位和生理功能。大量证据表明，脂蛋白与链球菌的致病特性密切相关。变异人此外，脂蛋白修饰酶应该是有吸引力的目标，以开发一种新的策略，预防和治疗龋齿。

We have been engaged in the work regarding surface lipoprotein on cariogenic bacterium, Streptococcus mutans. Until now, we have identified and functional analyzed lipoproteins related to sugar and amino acid uptake. Moreover, these lipoproteins have been clarified to be modified by lipoprotein modification enzymes, prolipoprotein diacylglyceryl transferase (Lgt) and lipoprotein-specific signal peptidase II (LspA), which is very important for the pysiological function of the lipoproteins. In this study, we identified that lipoprotein OpcC was involved in the acid tolerance which is one of cariogenic properties of S. mutans and demonstrated that the lipoprotein OpcC was under the control of Lgt and LspA in the localization and physiological function. Accumulated evidence and this finding strongly suggest that lipoproteins are definitely related to the pathogenic properties of S. mutans. Furthermore, lipoprotein modification enzymes should be attractive targets to develop a new strategy for prevention and therapeutic against dental caries.