Understanding Lactobacillus paracasei and Streptococcus oralis Biofilm Interactions through Agent-Based Modeling

• DOI: 10.1128/msphere.00875-21
• Publication Date: 2021-12-15T16:00:39Z
• Authors: Linda Archambault; Sherli Koshy-Chen...; Angela Thompson; Anna Dongari-Bagt...; Reinhard Laubenba...; Pedro Mendes
• Keywords: computational modeling; 0301 basic medicine; Systems Analysis; Virulence; agent-based modeling; Streptococcus oralis; Lacticaseibacillus paracasei; Microbiology; biofilm; QR1-502; 03 medical and health sciences; Biofilms; oral health; Lactobacillus paracasei; Research Article

We previously discovered a role of the oral commensal Streptococcus oralis as an accessory pathogen. S. oralis increases the virulence of Candida albicans infections in murine oral candidiasis and epithelial cell models through mechanisms which promote the formation of tissue-damaging biofilms. Lactobacillus species have known inhibitory effects on biofilm formation of many microbes, including Streptococcus species. Agent-based modeling has great advantages as a means of exploring multifaceted relationships between organisms in complex environments such as biofilms.