Pneumococcal competence is a populational health sensor driving multilevel heterogeneity in response to antibiotics.

ABSTRACT: Competence for natural transformation is a central driver of genetic diversity in bacteria. In the human pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae, competence exhibits a populational character mediated by the stress-induced ComABCDE quorum-sensing (QS) system. Here, we explore how this cell-to-cell communication mechanism proceeds and the functional properties acquired by competent cells grown under lethal stress. We show that populational competence development depends on self-induced cells stochastically emerging in response to stresses, including antibiotics. Competence then propagates through the population from a low threshold density of self-induced cells, defining a biphasic Self-Induction and Propagation (SI&P) QS mechanism. We also reveal that a competent population displays either increa

SUBMITTER: Prudhomme M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11237056 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature