Metabolic modeling of Streptococcus mutans reveals complex nutrient requirements of an oral pathogen

Streptococcus mutans is a Gram positive bacterium that thrives under acidic conditions and is a primary cause of tooth decay (dental caries). To better understand the metabolism of S. mutans on a systematic level, we manually constructed a genome-scale metabolic model of the S. mutans type strain UA159. The model, called iSMU, contains 656 reactions involving 514 metabolites and the products of 488 genes.\n\nWe interrogated S. mutans nutrient requirements using model simulations and nutrient removal experiments in defined media. The iSMU model matched experimental results in greater than 90% of the conditions tested. We also simulated effects of single gene deletions. The models predictions agreed with 78.1% and 84.4% of the gene essentiality predictions from two experimental datasets. Our manually curated model is more accurate than S. mutans models generated from automated reconstruction pipelines. We believe the iSMU model is an important resource for understanding how metabolism enables the cariogenicity of S. mutans.