Short-chain fatty acids inhibit the biofilm formation of Streptococcus gordonii through negative regulation of competence-stimulating peptide signaling pathway

Abstract

Streptococcus gordonii, a Gram-positive commensal bacterium, is an opportunistic pathogen closely related to initiation and progression of various oral diseases, such as periodontitis and dental caries. Its biofilm formation is linked with the development of such diseases by enhanced resistance against antimicrobial treatment or host immunity. In the present study, we investigated the effect of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) on the biofilm formation of S. gordonii. SCFAs, including sodium acetate (NaA), sodium propionate (NaP), and sodium butyrate (NaB), showed an effective inhibitory activity on the biofilm formation of S. gordonii without reduction in bacterial growth. SCFAs suppressed S. gordonii biofilm formation at early time points whereas SCFAs did not affect its preformed biofilm. A quorum-sensing system mediated by competence-stimulating peptide (CSP) is known to regulate biofilm formation of streptococci. Interestingly, SCFAs substantially decreased mRNA expression of comD and comE, which are CSP-sensor and its response regulator responsible for CSP pathway, respectively. Although S. gordonii biofilm formation was enhanced by exogenous synthetic CSP treatment, such effect was not observed in the presence of SCFAs. Collectively, these results suggest that SCFAs have an anti-biofilm activity on S. gordonii through inhibiting comD and comE expression which results in negative regulation of CSP quorum-sensing system. SCFAs could be an effective anti-biofilm agent against S. gordonii for the prevention of oral diseases.

Keywords: Streptococcus gordonii; biofilm; competence-stimulating peptide; quorum-sensing; short-chain fatty acids.