No abstract

Streptococcus mutans Ingbritt was grown anaerobically in a chemostat with a glucose limitation, as well as with an excess of glucose (amino acid limitation) at dilution rates ( D ) between 0.05 and 0.4 h −1 (mean generation time = 12 to 1.5 h). The glucose-limited culture produced cells having 1.5- to 6.0-fold greater glycolytic activity than the cells from the glucose-excess culture. The preferred substrate for these cells was glucose, with the glycolytic rate for sucrose being only slightly lower; the rate for fructose was half that of glucose. The glycolytic rate of the glucose-limited cells was maximum at D = 0.1 h −1 , with a decline in rate as the growth rate approached D = 0.4 h −1 . A comparison of the activity of phosphoenolpyruvate phosphotransferase system (PTS) in the two types of cells showed that the glucose-limited cells had 1.7- to 5.6-fold greater PTS activity for the three sugars than the glucose-excess-grown cells. Whereas little difference was seen between the three sugars with the latter cells, the glucose-PTS had the greatest activity with glucose-limited cells, with the maximum in cells grown at D = 0.1 h −1 . Comparison of the rate of sugar uptake in the chemostat with the rate of PTS transport activity in the cells at each growth rate demonstrated that only under conditions of slow growth with a glucose limitation was the PTS system capable of supporting growth on glucose. Furthermore, PTS activity in cells grown with an excess of glucose was insignificant when compared with glucose uptake during growth in the chemostat. This evidence supports the observation that S. mutans possesses at least one other system, in addition to the PTS, for the transport of glucose into the cell. The organism was, however, devoid of glucose-proton symport transport activity.

A comparison was made of the properties of Streptococcus mutans Ingbritt grown in continuous culture under conditions of excess glucose (nitrogen limitation) and limiting glucose at mean generation times of 1.7 to 14 h. Only low levels of glucoamylase-specific glycogen were formed in cells from either culture, and the total carbohydrate content of the cells under excess glucose was only at most 1.6-fold higher than in the glucose-limited culture. A negligible amount of cell-free polysaccharide was formed in either culture, although a significant level of glucosyltransferase activity was observed in both, with the highest activity at D = 0.2 and 0.4 h -1 with a glucose limitation. Other differences were observed. (i) Lactate was the main end product of the glucose-excess culture, whereas acetate, formate, and ethanol were the main products of the glucose-limited culture except at a mean generation time of 1.5, when lactate represented 30% of the products. (ii) The yield (in grams per mole of glucose) of the latter culture was 2.6- to 4.0- fold higher than the yield of the glucose-excess culture. (iii) Washed cells from the glucose-limited culture were much more acidogenic (1.7- to 6.2-fold) than the glucose-excess cells when incubated with glucose, sucrose, and fructose. Endogenous glycolytic activity by the latter cells was significant, being 31 to 92% of the exogenous glucose rate at the four dilution rates. (iv) Cells from the glucose-excess culture were more insensitive to fluoride than cells from the glucose-limited culture. The NaF 50% inhibition dose values for the effect of fluoride on the metabolism of glucose, sucrose, and fructose were calculated for the four dilution rates at four pH values. This analysis indicated that rapidly metabolizing cells were more sensitive to fluoride than cells that metabolized the sugars more slowly.