Conserved Streptococcus pneumoniae spirosomes suggest a single type of transformation pilus in competence.

ABSTRACT: The success of S. pneumoniae as a major human pathogen is largely due to its remarkable genomic plasticity, allowing efficient escape from antimicrobials action and host immune response. Natural transformation, or the active uptake and chromosomal integration of exogenous DNA during the transitory differentiated state competence, is the main mechanism for horizontal gene transfer and genomic makeover in pneumococci. Although transforming DNA has been proposed to be captured by Type 4 pili (T4P) in Gram-negative bacteria, and a competence-inducible comG operon encoding proteins homologous to T4P-biogenesis components is present in transformable Gram-positive bacteria, a prevailing hypothesis has been that S. pneumoniae assembles only short pseudopili to destabilize the cell wall for DNA ent

SUBMITTER: Laurenceau R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4398557 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature