{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,24]],"date-time":"2026-06-24T21:19:17Z","timestamp":1782335957785,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":44,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,5]],"date-time":"2024-07-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1720137600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Microbiol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Fluoride-resistant <jats:italic>Streptococcus mutans<\/jats:italic> (<jats:italic>S. mutans<\/jats:italic>) might affect the ecological balance of biofilms in the presence of fluoride. We used a <jats:italic>S. mutans<\/jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Candida albicans<\/jats:italic> (<jats:italic>C. albicans<\/jats:italic>) cross-kingdom biofilm model to investigate whether fluoride-resistant <jats:italic>S. mutans<\/jats:italic> in biofilms would support <jats:italic>C. albicans<\/jats:italic> growth under fluoride stress and attenuate the <jats:italic>in vitro<\/jats:italic> anti-caries effect of fluorine. The impact of fluoride-resistant <jats:italic>S. mutans<\/jats:italic> on formation of cross-kingdom biofilms by <jats:italic>S. mutans<\/jats:italic> and <jats:italic>C. albicans<\/jats:italic> in the presence of fluoride was investigated <jats:italic>in vitro<\/jats:italic> using the crystal violet staining assay. Biofilm constitution was determined using colony-forming unit (CFU) counts and fluorescent <jats:italic>in situ<\/jats:italic> hybridization (FISH). Extracellular polysaccharide (EPS) generation in biofilms was determined by EPS\/bacterial dying and water-insoluble polysaccharide detection. Acid production and demineralization were monitored using pH, lactic acid content, and transversal microradiography (TMR). The gene expression of microorganisms in the cross-kingdom biofilm was measured using qRT-PCR. Our results showed that both <jats:italic>C. albicans<\/jats:italic> and fluoride-resistant <jats:italic>S. mutans<\/jats:italic> grew vigorously, forming robust cross-kingdom biofilms, even in the presence of sodium fluoride (NaF). Moreover, fluoride-resistant <jats:italic>S. mutans<\/jats:italic>-containing cross-kingdom biofilms had considerable cariogenic potential for EPS synthesis, acid production, and demineralization ability in the presence of NaF than fluoride-sensitive <jats:italic>S. mutans<\/jats:italic>-containing biofilms. Furthermore, the gene expression of microorganisms in the two cross-kingdom biofilms changed dissimilarly in the presence of NaF. In summary, fluoride-resistant <jats:italic>S. mutans<\/jats:italic> in cross-kingdom biofilms supported <jats:italic>C. albicans<\/jats:italic> growth under fluoride and might attenuate the anti-caries potential of fluorine by maintaining robust cross-kingdom biofilm formation and cariogenic virulence expression <jats:italic>in vitro<\/jats:italic> in the presence of NaF.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fmicb.2024.1399525","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,5]],"date-time":"2024-07-05T05:14:26Z","timestamp":1720156466000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Fluoride-resistant Streptococcus mutans within cross-kingdom biofilms support Candida albicans growth under fluoride and attenuate the in vitro anti-caries effect of fluorine"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Yan","family":"Sun","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yanhan","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qian","family":"Du","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jin","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Muxin","family":"Xu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gaozhe","family":"Zheng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wen","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xinxuan","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lili","family":"Qiu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yihuai","family":"Pan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Keke","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"255","DOI":"10.1016\/j.biotechadv.2009.08.006","article-title":"Stereological assessment of extracellular polymeric substances, exo-enzymes, and specific bacterial strains in bioaggregates using fluorescence experiments","volume":"28","author":"Adav","year":"2010","journal-title":"Biotechnol. 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