Transcriptome analysis of Streptococcus mutans quorum sensing-induced cells

In the human pathogen Streptococcus mutans, the canonical peptide-based quorum sensing system is an inducible DNA repair system that is pivotal for bacterial survival. Previous work showed that the CSP signaling peptide is a stress-signaling alarmone that controls different stress-induced phenotypes. In this study, we exposed S. mutans to the CSP pheromone to mimic DNA damage conditions. Transcriptome analysis was then performed to evaluate the differential gene expression between the normal stationary phase cells and the CSP-induced stationary phase cells. The data obtained contribute to the understanding of the CSP-induced phenotypes in S. mutans. S. mutans cells were induced with the CSP quorum sensing pheromone for 24 hours. The gene expression profiling of the CSP-induced cells was compared to the one of non-induced cells.