title: Identification and expression of small non-coding RNA, L10-Leader, in different growth phases of Streptococcus mutans.
abstract: Streptococcus mutans is one of the major cariogenic bacteria in the oral environment. Small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs) play important roles in the regulation of bacterial growth, stress tolerance, and virulence. In this study, we experimentally verified the existence of sRNA, L10-Leader, in S. mutans for the first time. Our results show that the expression level of L10-Leader was growth-phase dependent in S. mutans and varied among different clinical strains of S. mutans. The level of L10-Leader in S. mutans UA159 was closely related to the pH value, but not to the concentrations of glucose and sucrose in culture medium. We predicted target mRNAs of L10-Leader bioinformatically and found that some of these mRNAs were related to growth and stress response. Five predicted mRNA targets were selected and detected by quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), and we found that the expression levels of these mRNAs were closely related to the level of L10-Leader at different growth phases of the bacteria. Our results indicate that L10-Leader may play an important role in the regulation of responses in S. mutans, especially during its growth phase and acid adaption response.
authors.affiliation: Department of Stomatology, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Shaohua
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Wuju
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jiaojiao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Hongmei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Xueting
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Chenglong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Ningsheng
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.forename: Bingfeng
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chu
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D003470:Culture Media; D017931:DNA Primers; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D022661:RNA, Untranslated / Q000235:genetics*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013295:Streptococcus mutans / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D017931:DNA Primers; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D022661:RNA, Untranslated