The unusual combination of representatives of different life fields—fungals and bacteria— allows oral microorganisms to more reliably grasp teeth and move along them, crawl quickly, and even make sharp "jumps".
Correlation between Streptococcus and fungi under microscope
University of Pennsylvania (USA) scientists studied saliva samples collected from children with severe dental injuries. Their main attention is attracted to the bacteria Streptococcus mutans and microscopic fungi Candida albicans , most often involved in the formation of caries . It turns out that these microorganisms usually appear in the form of tight communities, both cells exist, connected by extracellular polymers, glycoprotein .
It is worth recalling that similar alliances between representatives of different life fields are well known to biologists. For example, lichen is a symbiont of fungi and cyanobacteria . However, as far as oral microorganisms are concerned, they are much more dangerous. Such communities are more resistant to the effects of the body's defense system, better retained on the tooth surface, and even actively spread to the tooth surface, resulting in more severe damage than each microorganism alone. About this Knut Drescher and his co-authors wrote in an article published in the journal PNAS.
In microscopic photos, the bacterial cells are green and the fungal hyphae are blue: as the community develops, it will actively move
Scientists were able to cultivate streptococci and Candida communities on a material—a simulated enamel in the presence of saliva and observe their behavior. It turns out that they can use fast-growing fungal filaments to move along the surface of the teeth. Streptococcus itself is immobile, but because of their alliance with the fungus, they can move at a rate of 40 microns per hour. In some cases, this movement even occurs in a jump covering up to 100 microns, which is more than 200 times their own size.
"They have many so-called emerging attributes that provide community members with opportunities that they personally do not have," said Hyun Koo, one of the authors of the work. "It's almost like a new organism, a superorganism with new functions."
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