TABLE 1.

Production of bacteriocin by S. mutans GS5 or BM71 in agar plate assays^a

Bacterium	Diameter of inhibition zone (mm)b
	Without CSP		With CSP
	GS5	BM71	GS5	BM71
Wild-type	38.3 ± 1.7	39.0 ± 0.8	39.0 ± 2.4	39.3 ± 1.2
comC mutant	3.7 ± 2.9	1.7 ± 1.2	38.7 ± 2.1	39.0 ± 0.8
comD mutant	2.7 ± 2.1	1.3 ± 0.5	2.3 ± 1.7	1.7 ± 0.5
comE mutant	2.3 ± 1.7	1.7 ± 0.5	3.0 ± 2.2	2.3 ± 0.5

^aS. mutans GS5 or BM71 or their com mutant cells were inoculated into THB agar plates with or without the addition of exogenous synthetic CSP (3 μg in 3 μl) for stab cultures. After 24 h of incubation at 37°C under anaerobic conditions, the plates were overlaid with indicator RP66 cells (10⁶ CFU) in 3 ml of THB with 1% low-melting-point agarose. After 24 more hours of incubation at 37°C under anaerobic conditions, the diameters of the clearance zones surrounding the inoculated bacteria were measured.

^bValues are means ± standard deviations from three experiments.