Genotypic diversity and virulence factors of Streptococcus mutans in caries-free and caries-active individuals

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study was to analyze the genotypic diversity, frequency of serotypes and the detection of mutacins from Streptococcus mutans isolates in caries-free and caries-active individuals.A total of 260 S. mutans isolated from 28 individuals with and without dental caries were subjected to AP-PCR and PCR screening of glucosyltransferase B, mutacin and serotype genes, which showed the presence of. 70 different genotypes. There was no statistically significant association between the presence of genes for serotypes and mutacins with dental caries. However, there was a statistically significant and a strong association between the higher genotypic diversity in the subjects with caries (r = 0.72, p = 0.001). There was an increase in the number of genotypes with increasing age (p <0.01).