Identification of an early stage biofilm inhibitor from Veillonella tobetsuensis

Oral biofilm, the cause of dental caries and periodontal diseases, consists of multiple bacterial species. Streptococcus spp. and Veillonella spp. have been reported as to be initial and early colonizers of oral biofilms. Our previous studies showed that Veillonella tobetsuensis may play an important role on the development of S. gordonii biofilms without coaggregation involving extracellular biomolecules. In this study, the effect of a cyclic dipeptide autoinducer from culture supernatants from V. tobetsuensis at late-exponential growth phase on S. gordonii biofilm was examined. The cyclic dipeptide, identified as cyclo (-L-Leu-L-Pro) by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, inhibited the development of S. gordonii biofilm. Furthermore, cyclo (-L-Leu-L-Pro) appeared not to cause bactericidal effects on planktonic cells of S. gordonii. This is the first report that oral Veillonella produces cyclo (-L-Leu-L-Pro) in their culture supernatants. Moreover, the results of this study suggest that cyclo (-L-Leu-L-Pro) may have an application to inhibit early stage development of oral biofilms.