Loss of NADH Oxidase Activity in Streptococcus mutans Leads to Rex-Mediated Overcompensation in NAD+ Regeneration by Lactate Dehydrogenase
Abstract
Previous studies of the oral pathogen Streptococcus mutans have determined that this Gram-positive facultative anaerobe mounts robust responses to both acid and oxidative stresses. The water-forming NADH oxidase (Nox; encoded by nox) is thought to be critical for the regeneration of NAD(+), for use in glycolysis, and for the reduction of oxygen, thereby preventing the formation of damaging reactive oxygen species. In this study, the free NAD(+)/NADH ratio in a nox deletion strain (Δnox) was discovered to be remarkably higher than that in the parent strain, UA159, when the strains were grown in continuous culture. This unanticipated result was explained by significantly elevated lactate dehydrogenase (Ldh; encoded by ldh) activity and ldh transcription in the Δnox strain, which was mediated in part by the redox-sensing regulator Rex. cDNA microarray analysis of S. mutans cultures exposed to simultaneous acid stress (growth at a low pH) and oxidative stress (generated through the deletion of nox or the addition of exogenous oxygen) revealed a stress response synergistically heightened over that with either stress alone. In the Δnox strain, this elevated stress response included increased glucose phosphoenolpyruvate phosphotransfe...Continue Reading
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