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. 1999 Dec;37(12):4081-5.
doi: 10.1128/JCM.37.12.4081-4085.1999.

Prevalence of the amylase-binding protein A gene (abpA) in oral streptococci

A E Brown  1 , J D Rogers, E M Haase, P M Zelasko, F A Scannapieco
Affiliations

Prevalence of the amylase-binding protein A gene (abpA) in oral streptococci

A E Brown et al. J Clin Microbiol. 1999 Dec.

Abstract

Salivary amylase binds specifically to a number of oral streptococcal species. This interaction may play an important role in dental plaque formation. Recently, a 585-bp gene was cloned and sequenced from Streptococcus gordonii Challis encoding a 20.5-kDa amylase-binding protein (AbpA). The goal of this study was to determine if related genes are present in other species of oral streptococci. Biotinylated abpA was used in Southern blot analysis to screen genomic DNA from several strains representing eight species of oral streptococci. This probe hybridized with a 4.0-kb HindIII restriction fragment from all 13 strains of S. gordonii tested. The probe did not appear to bind to any restriction fragments from other species of amylase-binding oral streptococci including Streptococcus mitis (with the exception of 1 of 14 strains), Streptococcus crista (3 strains), Streptococcus anginosus (1 strain), and Streptococcus parasanguinis (1 strain), or to non-amylase-binding oral streptococci including Streptococcus sanguinis (3 strains), Streptococcus oralis (4 strains), and Streptococcus mutans (1 strain). Primers homologous to sequences within the 3' and 5' ends of abpA yielded products of 400 bp following PCR of genomic DNA from the Southern blot-positive strains. Several of these PCR products were cloned and sequenced. The levels of similarity of these cloned products to the abpA of S. gordonii Challis ranged from 91 to 96%. These studies reveal that the abpA gene appears to be specific to S. gordonii and differs from genes encoding amylase-binding proteins from other species of amylase-binding streptococci.

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Figures

FIG. 1
FIG. 1
Example of Southern blot hybridization of HindIII-restricted streptococcal genomic DNA probed with abpA. Lane 1, S. mitis OP51; lane 2, S. mitis NCTC 10712; lane 3, S. crista CR3; lane 4, S. crista CR311; lane 5, S. sanguinis 10556; lane 6, S. gordonii FAS 4; lane 7, S. mutans 10449.
FIG. 2
FIG. 2
Example of products obtained by PCR with primers XabpA-2 and CabpAR-2. Lane 1, molecular size standards; lane 2, S. mutans 10449; lane 3, S. mitis OP51; lane 4, S. gordonii Challis; lane 5, S. gordonii NCTC 7865.
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