Differential toxic effects of lactate and acetate on the metabolism of Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sanguis

Experiments were conducted with Streptococcus mutans NCTC 10449 and Streptococcus sanguis ATCC 10556 to determine whether the acid end‐products, lactate and acetate, were involved in the regulation of cellular growth and metabolism. The growth rate and culture biomass of both organisms was inhibited by the addition of lactate and acetate at concentrations as high as 200 mM to the cultures, although the final pH values of the lactate and acetate cultures were similar. In addition, the metabolic conversion of glucose to lactate was decreased by external lactate but stimulated by acetate. In spite of this, calculation of the yield of cell biomass per mole of ATP (Y ATP ) showed that the yield of both organisms actually increased in the presence of added lactate, but decreased with acetate. This indicates that the two acids interacted with the cells of the organisms by different mechanisms. For both organisms, the final external undissociated lactic acid was relatively constant at concentrations between 0 and 200 mM added lactate, 24.9–32.5 mM for S. mutans and 8.0‐11.5 mM for S. sanguis. On the other hand, the final concentration of undissociated acetic acid in the S. mutans cultures increased from 2.9 to 83.7 mM as the medium acetate concentration increased, and from 1.0 to 36.0 mM with the S. sanguis cultures. Counterflow experiments provided evidence for a lactate carrier in both S. mutans and S. sanguis , but an acetate carrier in these organisms could not be demonstrated. [ 14 C]‐lactate and [ 14 C]‐acetate were taken up into de‐energized, chemostat‐grown cells of S. mutans and S. sanguis in response to an artificially generated pH gradient but not by an imposed electrical gradient. Thus, under these conditions lactate uptake occurred via a symport process with only one proton. Growth of both organisms in the presence of increasing concentrations of acetate resulted in a small reduction (27%) in the transmembrane pH gradient (ΔpH) as measured by the permeant acid, [ 14 C]‐salicylate. However, the uptake of [ 14 C]‐acetate for the estimation of ΔpH revealed significant inhibition of the acetate concentration gradient in the presence external acetate, indicating that the cells expelled the acetate anion. The results indicate that, unlike acetate uptake, lactate transport by S. mutans and S. sanguis was strictly regulated via the lactate earner in order to prevent excessive dissipation of the pH gradient. Clearly, the formation of acetate by oral streptococci is more problematic for cellular homeostasis than the formation of lactate.