1. Strains and Culture Conditions
NOTE: The synthetic oral community was composed of strains commonly present in the oral microbiome.
- Obtain the following strains from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC): Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans (ATCC 43718), Fusobacterium nucleatum (ATCC 10953), Porphyromonas gingivalis (ATCC 33277), Prevotella intermedia (ATCC 25611), Streptococcus mutans (ATCC 25175), Streptococcus sobrinus (ATCC 33478), Actinomyces naeslundii (ATCC 51655), Streptococcus gordonii (ATCC 49818), Actinomyces viscosus (ATCC 15987), and Streptococcus mitis (ATCC 49456).
- Acquire Veillonella parvula from the Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures (DSM 2007), Streptococcus sanguinis from the BCCM/LMG Bacteria Collection (LMG 14657), and use Streptococcus salivarius strain TOVE-R9 and Streptococcus oralis.
2. Development of a Multispecies Community Representative of the Oral Microbiome
NOTE: Generate a synthetic community to simulate the potential adhesion capacity of oral bacteria to the in vitro gut epithelium. Grow bacteria on blood agar plates supplemented with 5 μg/mL hemin, 1 μg/mL menadione, and 5% sterile defibrinated horse blood. In brief:
- Dissolve 100 mg of hemin in 2 mL of 1 M NaOH, add 100 mL of distilled autoclaved water. Store in a dark container. Sterilize through a 0.22 µm filter before adding to medium.
- Dissolve 100 mg of menadione in 20 mL of 96% ethanol. Sterilize through a 0.22 µm filter before adding to the medium.
- Prepare 1 L of blood agar medium (see Table of Materials) according to the manufacturer’s instructions and autoclave. Let it cool down before adding the horse blood and the supplements. Mix and pour the plates.
- Prepare modified Brain Heart Infusion (BHI) broth. Add 5 μg/mL of hemin and 1 μg/mL of menadione after autoclaving.
- Dispense 9 mL of the medium in Hungate tubes, and close with a rubber stopper and an aluminium cap. Flush the tubes with N2/CO2 (90%/10%).
- Retrieve 1 mL of anaerobic medium with a syringe and place it in a 1.5 mL microcentrifuge tube. Pick single colonies of each bacterial species, resuspend in the medium, and transfer back into the anaerobic modified BHI. Incubate for 48 h at 37 °C, except for S. salivarius, which must be incubated for 24 h.
- Measure the cell number at the end of the incubation, using flow cytometry and SYBR Green/Propidium Iodide stain. Dilute the cultures to 105 cells mL-1, using modified BHI.