Coaggregation between and among human intestinal and oral bacteria

Abstract

Coaggregation is believed to facilitate the integration of new bacterial species into polymicrobial communities. The aim of this study was to investigate coaggregation between and among human oral and enteric bacteria. Stationary phase cultures of 10 oral and 10 enteric species, chosen on the basis of numerical and ecological significance in their respective environments together with their ease of cultivation, were tested using a quantitative spectrophotometric coaggregation assay in all possible pairwise combinations to provide quantitative coaggregation scores. While 40% of possible partnerships coaggregated strongly for oral strains, strong interactions between oral and gut strains were considerably less common (4% incidence). Coaggregation scores were also weak between members of the intestinal microbiota (7% incidence), apart from Bacteroides fragilis with Clostridium perfringens, and Bifidobacterium adolescentis with C. perfringens. Oral and intestinal bacteria did not strongly interact, apart from B. adolescentis with Fusobacterium nucleatum, Actinomyces naeslundii with C. perfringens and F. nucleatum with Lactobacillus paracasei. Heating and sugar-addition experiments indicated that similar to oral microorganisms, interactions within intestinal bacteria and between intestinal and oral strains were mediated by lectin-carbohydrate interactions.

In vitro characterization of aggregation and adhesion properties of viable and heat-killed forms of two probiotic Lactobacillus strains and interaction with foodborne zoonotic bacteria, especially Campylobacter jejuni

“…Mucin is a glycosylated protein and attachment of bacteria to mucin involves specific bacterial proteins such as mucus-binding proteins and other lectins or adhesins. A majority of the aggregation interactions between gut isolates are mediated by lectin-carbohydrate interaction (Ledder et al, 2008). In Lactobacillus reuteri strains, mucus binding showed excellent correlation with the presence of cell-surface mucus-binding protein and was further highly associated with the autoaggregation properties of Lb.…”

Analysis of interspecies adherence of oral bacteria using a membrane binding assay coupled with polymerase chain reaction‐denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis profiling

“…Previous studies showed that bacteria from different origins were less likely to have direct physical binding as revealed by coaggregation assay [27]. Using BHI cultivated mice gut microbial community [20] we further tested the interbacterial binding between oral species and gut flora.…”

“…Previous studies employing the standard coaggregation assay have shown that bacteria from different microbial communities exhibit less interbacterial binding than species originating from the same community [27]. Therefore, we investigated the co-adherence profiles of F. nucleatum and S. mutans with a foreign flora using cultivated mice gut flora as a model community.…”

Xylan-mediated aggregation of Lactobacillus brevis and its relationship with the surface properties and mucin-mediated aggregation of the bacteria

“…From this observation, the aggregation of L. brevis in response to xylan was not considered to involve a specific reaction mediated by proteins, such as lectin-like proteins, which were previously identified as factors for the aggregation and gastrointestinal tract adherence of Lactobacillus. 8,9,[12][13][14][15]23) However, another type of protein was considered to mediate xylan-induced aggregation based on the effects of pH and temperature on aggregation.…”

“…8,9) LAB strains belonging to Lactobacillus brevis and Lactobacillus gasseri that recognize human blood type-A antigen through recognition of the sugar chain of the antigen were reported. 10,11) Mannose-specific adhesion to the porcine jejunal epithelium by Lactobacillus plantarum 12) and coaggregation between and among human intestinal and oral bacteria via lectin-carbohydrate interactions 13) have also been reported. Furthermore, the aggregation of LAB and yeast cells mediated by mannose and/or mannan in the yeast cell wall has been confirmed for L. plantarum 14,15) and Lactococcus lactis.…”