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Updated: May 20, 2026

Heuristic Mining of Hierarchical Genotypes and Accessory Genome Loci in Bacterial Populations
Published on: December 7, 2021
gbpC gene repertoire variation among mutans Streptococci
Yuki Kojima1, Kazuko Okamoto-Shibayama, Yutaka Sato
1Department of Biochemistry and Oral Health Science Center, Tokyo Dental College, 1-2-2 Masago, Mihama-ku, Chiba 261-8502, Japan.
Abstract:
The human dental caries pathogen Streptococcus mutans harbors one glucan-binding wall-anchored protein gene, gbpC, and another human pathogen, Streptococcus sobrinus, has 4 gbpC homologues. As no 4 gbpC homologues have so far been detected in other mutans streptococci, however, we cannot say whether those in S. sobrinus are paralogous or orthologous. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify and sequence the gbpC/dbl genes in Streptococcus downei and Streptococcus criceti. The findings revealed that the former harbored 5 gbpC/dbl homologues and the latter 4. In addition, another dbl homologue, the dblC gene, was found in some strains of S. sobrinus. We performed a phylogenetic analysis with the gbpC/dbl genes in these mutans streptococci. These results indicate that the gbpC and dbl genes have an orthologous relationship.
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