Diverse Ecological Strategies Are Encoded by Streptococcus pneumoniae Bacteriocin-Like Peptides.

ABSTRACT: The opportunistic pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae is commonly carried asymptomatically in the human nasopharynx. Due to high rates of cocolonization with other pneumococcus strains, intraspecific competitive interactions partly determine the carriage duration of strains and thereby their potential to cause disease. These interactions may be mediated by bacteriocins, such as the type IIb bacteriocins encoded by the blp (bacteriocin-like peptide) locus. To understand blp diversity and evolution, we undertook a bioinformatic analysis of 4,418 pneumococcal genomes, including 168 newly sequenced genomes. We describe immense variation at all levels of genomic organization: Gene presence/absence, gene order, and allelic diversity. If we make the extreme and naive hypothesis that assumes all gen

SUBMITTER: Miller EL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4860687 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature