Global transcriptional analysis of S. mutans sugar transporters in biofilm. Streptococcus mutans UA159

In this study we showed that one PTS of S. mutans is specific for biofilm mode of growth in the presence of sucrose. Our data indicates that this PTS is involved in transport and metabolism of disaccharides and possibly oligosaccharides synthesized by GtfI and GtfSI. Overall design: Global transcriptional patterns were obtained in different growth modes on specific carbohydrates (glucose, sucrose and nigerose). To assure reproducibility of the data, the cultures were always grown to the same optical density for RNA extraction, cDNA synthesis and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays. Multiple conditions were analyzed with 2 or 6 replicates for each. Carbohydrate response in different growth modes.