Recombination of the Phase-Variable <i>spnIII</i> Locus Is Independent of All Known Pneumococcal Site-Specific Recombinases.

ABSTRACT: Streptococcus pneumoniae is one of the world's leading bacterial pathogens, causing pneumonia, septicemia, and meningitis. In recent years, it has been shown that genetic rearrangements in a type I restriction-modification system (SpnIII) can impact colony morphology and gene expression. By generating a large panel of mutant strains, we have confirmed a previously reported result that the CreX (also known as IvrR and PsrA) recombinase found within the locus is not essential for hsdS inversions. In addition, mutants of homologous recombination pathways also undergo hsdS inversions. In this work, we have shown that these genetic rearrangements, which result in different patterns of genome methylation, occur across a wide variety of serotypes and sequence types, including

SUBMITTER: De Ste Croix M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6620402 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature