Sequence elements upstream of the core promoter are necessary for full transcription of the capsule gene operon in Streptococcus pneumoniae strain D39.

ABSTRACT: Streptococcus pneumoniae is a major bacterial pathogen in humans. Its polysaccharide capsule is a key virulence factor that promotes bacterial evasion of human phagocytic killing. While S. pneumoniae produces at least 94 antigenically different types of capsule, the genes for biosynthesis of almost all capsular types are arranged in the same locus. The transcription of the capsular polysaccharide (cps) locus is not well understood. This study determined the transcriptional features of the cps locus in the type 2 virulent strain D39. The initial analysis revealed that the cps genes are cotranscribed from a major transcription start site at the -25 nucleotide (G) upstream of cps2A, the first gene in the locus. Using unmarked chromosomal truncations and a luciferase-based transcriptional repo

SUBMITTER: Wen Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4399061 | biostudies-literature | 2015 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature