Xylitol Sensitivity among Oral Streptococci

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Xylitol is a five-carbon sugar alcohol that inhibits thegrowth of oral streptococci, including Streptococcus mutans.
In this study, we tested xylitol sensitivity among the oralstreptococci. We also compared nucleotide homology ofputative fructose phosphotransferase system (PTS) andxylitol sensitivity, since xylitol is transported via the fructosePTS. Among the tested Streptococci, S. pneumonia showedthe highest resistance to xylitol while S. gordonii and S.
sanguinis showed the most sensitive growth inhibition.
These streptococci could be grouped according to theirxylitol sensitivity. S. mutans and S. salivarius showed similarbacterial growth inhibition by xylitol. S. mitis, S. oralis, S.
pneumonia, S. intermedius and S. anginosus showedrelatively low sensitivity to xylitol. When the genetichomologies of five fructose PTSs were compared among thetested streptococci, closely related streptococci showedsimilar sensitivity to xylitol. Taken together, fructose PTSsmay mediate the sensitivity to xylitol in oral streptococci.