Allelic Variation of the Capsule Promoter Diversifies Encapsulation and Virulence In Streptococcus pneumoniae.

ABSTRACT: The polysaccharide capsule is the major virulence factor of Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus), a major human pathogen. The sequences in the promoter and coding regions of the capsule gene locus undergo extensive variations through the natural transformation-mediated horizontal gene transfer. The sequence variations in the coding region have led to at least 97 capsular serotypes. However, it remains unclear whether the sequence polymorphisms in the promoter region have any biological significance. In this study, we determined the sequences of the cps promoter region from 225 invasive pneumococcal isolates, and identified modular composition and remarkable inter-strain sequence variations in this region. The strain-to strain variations in the cps promoter are characterized by diversity

SUBMITTER: Wen Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4964562 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature