Construction of region-specific partial duplication mutants (merodiploid mutants) to identify the regulatory gene for the glucan-binding protein C gene in vivo in Streptococcus mutans.

The gbpC gene encoding the glucan-binding protein C which is involved in dextran (glucan)-dependent aggregation (ddag) of Streptococcus mutans has been identified by random mutagenesis. We analyzed ddag(-) mutants containing the intact gbpC gene and found that these mutants possessed a large and characteristic duplication of a region of the chromosome which was responsible for the phenotype. Based upon characterization of these duplications, we developed a strategy to introduce a duplication into any specific region of the chromosome of these organisms. The 690-bp gene responsible for the ddag(-) phenotype was identified within a 60-kb region by observing ddag (positive or negative) phenotypes of successively constructed specific duplication mutants.