{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T09:53:55Z","timestamp":1785405235567,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":55,"publisher":"American Society for Microbiology","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,22]],"date-time":"2026-04-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1776816000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,22]],"date-time":"2026-04-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1776816000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.asm.org\/non-commercial-tdm-license"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["12374206"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["12374206"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["32400076"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["32400076"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.asm.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Appl Environ Microbiol"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,22]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title\/>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Streptococcus mutans<\/jats:italic>\n                      (\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">S. mutans<\/jats:italic>\n                      ) has a superior ability to rapidly metabolize sucrose into exopolysaccharides (EPS, mainly glucans), which serve as a critical virulence factor related to dental caries. Despite extensive research on sucrose-dependent EPS at the molecular and macroscale levels, however, the mechanisms underlying EPS effects at the microscale level remain poorly understood. Here, by employing bacteria tracking and fluorescence staining techniques, we investigated the role of sucrose-dependent EPS during biofilm development of\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">S. mutans<\/jats:italic>\n                      at the microscale level for both WT and \u0394\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">gtfB<\/jats:italic>\n                      strains. The results showed that at the early stages of biofilm development, the sucrose-derived glucans enhanced the surface attachment of\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">S. mutans<\/jats:italic>\n                      through bamboo joint-like glucan patterns displayed on cell surfaces and altered their microcolony structures from loose 2D chains in \u0394\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">gtfB<\/jats:italic>\n                      to dense-packed cell clusters in WT; then, after microcolonies formed, sucrose-dependent EPS promoted their development by speeding up the 2D-3D transition of WT microcolonies and affected final biofilm morphologies at the stage of biofilm maturation. Moreover, by tracking the long-time dynamic process of WT biofilm development at the microscale, the results demonstrated clearly the origin of liquid regions and their correlations with the structural and pH heterogeneity of biofilms. These findings establish sucrose-dependent EPS as dual-functional scaffolds\u2014mechanically accelerating biofilm assembly, meanwhile, facilitating the formation of structural and pH heterogeneity inside biofilms that are critical for enamel demineralization, and thus provide insights for developing new anti-caries strategies.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>IMPORTANCE<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Streptococcus mutans<\/jats:italic>\n                      is a major pathogen in caries development due to its ability to rapidly metabolize sucrose into EPS. EPS serves as a major component of the\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">S. mutans<\/jats:italic>\n                      biofilm matrix, and previous studies mostly explored the effects of EPS on the macroscale. However, how EPS shapes\n                      <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">S. mutans<\/jats:italic>\n                      biofilm formation at the microscale is not well understood. By combining single-cell tracking with fluorescence staining techniques, we demonstrate that sucrose-dependent EPS governs the transition from 2D growth to 3D biofilm architecture and facilitates the formation of a liquid region at the bottom of the biofilm. These findings bridge a fundamental knowledge gap between the microscale organization and macroscale attributes of biofilms, offering novel perspectives for developing targeted anti-caries strategies.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1128\/aem.00009-26","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,3]],"date-time":"2026-03-03T14:00:22Z","timestamp":1772546422000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1128\/asmj-crossmark-policy-page","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Role of sucrose-dependent exopolysaccharides in the biofilm development of\n                    <i>Streptococcus mutans<\/i>\n                    revealed at the microscale level"],"prefix":"10.1128","volume":"92","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-2541-0296","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Ailin","family":"Huang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/04qr3zq92","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China","place":["Chengdu, China"]},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/04qr3zq92","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China","place":["Chengdu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaodan","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/04qr3zq92","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China","place":["Chengdu, 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