Characterization of a Multipeptide Lantibiotic Locus in Streptococcus pneumoniae.

ABSTRACT:

Unlabelled

Bacterial communities are established through a combination of cooperative and antagonistic interactions between the inhabitants. Competitive interactions often involve the production of antimicrobial substances, including bacteriocins, which are small antimicrobial peptides that target other community members. Despite the nearly ubiquitous presence of bacteriocin-encoding loci, inhibitory activity has been attributed to only a small fraction of gene clusters. In this study, we characterized a novel locus (the pld locus) in the pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae that drives the production of a bacteriocin called pneumolancidin, which has broad antimicrobial activity. The locus encodes an unusual tandem array of four inhibitory peptides, three of which are absolutely requi

SUBMITTER: Maricic N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4742701 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature