Early colonizers of dental bacterial infections, such as Streptococcus sanguinis and Streptococcus gordonii, are responsible for early plaque formation by anchoring adhesion proteins to the pellicle of the tooth and producing glucan polymers that constitute the matrix of dental plaque. Streptococcus mutans is able to invade this matrix to form microcolonies and eventually develop the mature biofilm that is responsible for tooth decay and acidification. To date, few natural products (such as carolacton) have been reported to be effective inhibitors of S. mutans growth, many of which are difficult to synthesize.
A novel set of compounds with bactericidal activity against oral Streptococcal infections, including S. mutans, S. sanguinis, and S. gordonii. The compounds were inspired by reports of antimicrobial activity of honokiol, a natural product from Magnolia trees.
A recently published journal article in ACS Infectious Diseases from
Marisa Kozlowski’s Lab at the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Chemistry, and in collaboration with
Professor William Wuest at Emory University, describes synthetic routes to novel compounds that contain linked phenolic motifs with bactericidal activity towards oral Streptococcal strains. Under previously untested, physiologically relevant conditions, the Minimal Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) and Minimal Bactericidal Concentration (MBC) values for identified analogs were two orders of magnitude lower than honokiol, the previously investigated natural product.