Epidemiological application of a new bacteriocin typing scheme for Streptococcus mutans.

We propose a new bacteriocin typing scheme for Streptococcus mutans (Biotype I) using nine producer strains and a numerical code with three figures. Its application in 75 unrelated S. mutans strains allowed us to type all microorganisms and to obtain a total of 15 bacteriocin types. Its epidemiological use in two family groups allowed us to obtain two bacteriocin types in each one and to show the type relations between the different family components.