Chronic bacterial infections in the oral cavity influence the development of dental caries. Mutans streptococci are the major pathogenic cause of dental caries. The World Health Organization (WHO) ranks dental caries, cancer, and cardiovascular diseases as the three major global diseases that need urgent preventative and curative measures. However, substantial evidence suggests that traditional prevention and treatment strategies are inefficient in reducing the prevalence of dental caries. For protection against caries, it is important to develop effective vaccines that induce anticolonizing immunity against Streptococcus mutans infections. In the present investigation, we constructed a fusion anti-caries DNA vaccine (PAcA-ctxB) through fusing A region of cell surface protein PAc (PAcA) coding gene of mutans streptococci with cholera toxin B subunit coding gene (CTB). Afterward, the plasmids were integrated into tomato genomes through agrobacterium-mediated plant transformation technology. The presence of transgenes in the tomato genome was confirmed by PCR, β-glucuronidase gene (GUS), and western blot. The expression of genes was confirmed at transcription and protein level. Altogether, the results presented herein showed that transgenic tomatoes may provide a useful system for the production of human caries antigen.

中文翻译：

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为PAcA基因和霍乱毒素B亚基在转基因番茄植物中构建抗龋齿融合DNA疫苗。

口腔中的慢性细菌感染会影响龋齿的发展。变形链球菌是龋齿的主要致病原因。世界卫生组织（WHO）将龋齿，癌症和心血管疾病列为需要紧急预防和治疗措施的三大全球性疾病。但是，大量证据表明，传统的预防和治疗策略无法有效降低龋齿的患病率。为了预防龋齿，重要的是开发有效的疫苗，以诱导针对变形链球菌感染的抗殖民免疫力。在本次调查中，我们通过将变形链球菌的细胞表面蛋白PAc（PAcA）编码基因的A区与霍乱毒素B亚基编码基因（CTB）融合，构建了融合抗龋DNA疫苗（PAcA-ctxB）。之后，通过农杆菌介导的植物转化技术将质粒整合到番茄基因组中。通过PCR，β-葡糖醛酸糖苷酶基因（GUS）和western印迹证实了番茄基因组中转基因的存在。在转录和蛋白质水平上证实了基因的表达。总而言之，本文呈现的结果表明，转基因番茄可以提供用于产生人类龋齿抗原的有用系统。通过PCR，β-葡糖醛酸糖苷酶基因（GUS）和蛋白质印迹证实了番茄基因组中转基因的存在。在转录和蛋白质水平上证实了基因的表达。总而言之，本文呈现的结果表明，转基因番茄可以提供用于产生人龋齿抗原的有用系统。通过PCR，β-葡糖醛酸糖苷酶基因（GUS）和western印迹证实了番茄基因组中转基因的存在。在转录和蛋白质水平上证实了基因的表达。总而言之，本文呈现的结果表明，转基因番茄可以提供用于产生人龋齿抗原的有用系统。