Characterization of a salivary agglutinin reacting with a serotype c strain of Streptococcus mutans.

A protein, which can agglutinate a Streptococcus mutans serotype c strain, was isolated from parotid saliva by affinity adsorption of the salivary agglutinin to the microorganism followed by a desorption with a 10 mM phosphate buffer. The agglutinin was subjected to preparative ultracentrifugation, gel filtration, and ultrafiltration. The native purified agglutinin is active only in the presence of Ca. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, analytical centrifugation, and analyses of amino acids and carbohydrates showed that the native agglutinin was a fucose-rich glycoprotein with a carbohydrate content of 45% and with a molecular weight of at least 5 X 10(6). After sodium dodecyl sulphate treatment the molecular weight was 4.4 X 10(5). There was a low content of proline and a high content of aspartic acid, serine and threonine. The concentration of agglutinin in parotid saliva is less than 0.5% of total protein. It has high biological activity: 0.1 microgram agglutinin causes a rapid aggregation of approximately 10(8) bacteria.