This Article
Right arrow Abstract Freely available
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Pestova, E. V.
Right arrow Articles by Morrison, D. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Pestova, E. V.
Right arrow Articles by Morrison, D. A.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

J Bacteriol, May 1998, p. 2701-2710, Vol. 180, No. 10
0021-9193/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Isolation and Characterization of Three Streptococcus pneumoniae Transformation-Specific Loci by Use of a lacZ Reporter Insertion Vector

Ekaterina V. Pestova* and Donald A. Morrison

Laboratory for Molecular Biology, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

Received 26 November 1997/Accepted 9 March 1998

    ABSTRACT
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Materials & Methods
Results
Discussion
References

Although more than a dozen new proteins are produced when Streptococcus pneumoniae cells become competent for genetic transformation, only a few of the corresponding genes have been identified to date. To find genes responsible for the production of competence-specific proteins, a random lacZ transcriptional fusion library was constructed in S. pneumoniae by using the insertional lacZ reporter vector pEVP3. Screening the library for clones with competence-specific beta -galactosidase (beta -Gal) production yielded three insertion mutants with induced beta -Gal levels of about 4, 10, and 40 Miller units. In all three clones, activation of the lacZ reporter correlated with competence and depended on competence-stimulating peptide. Chromosomal loci adjacent to the integrated vector were subcloned from the insertion mutants, and their nucleotide sequences were determined. Genes at two of the loci exhibited strong similarity to parts of Bacillus subtilis com operons. One locus contained open reading frames (ORFs) homologous to the comEA and comEC genes in B. subtilis but lacked a comEB homolog. A second locus contained four ORFs with homology to the B. subtilis comG gene ORFs 1 to 4, but comG gene ORFs 5 to 7 were replaced in S. pneumoniae with an ORF encoding a protein homologous to transport ATP-binding proteins. Genes at all three loci were confirmed to be required for transformation by mutagenesis using pEVP3 for insertion duplications or an erm cassette for gene disruptions.

    INTRODUCTION
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Materials & Methods
Results
Discussion
References

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a representative of a diverse group of bacteria capable of natural genetic transformation, a process that involves active binding and uptake by a bacterial cell of free extracellular DNA, either plasmid or chromosomal, and the heritable incorporation of its genetic information. Natural transformation is thought to be advantageous to this organism by allowing the acquisition of traits, for example antibiotic resistance, from genetically distinct organisms by horizontal gene transfer in natural populations (28, 52).

Natural genetic transformation in S. pneumoniae is a highly coordinated process. It is induced in exponentially growing cultures at a specific cell density and lasts for less than 1 h (56). This transient physiological state, in which a cell is able to bind and take up free DNA from the surrounding medium, is called competence for genetic transformation. The induction of competence is regulated by a cell-cell communication mechanism which employs a 17-residue extracellular activator peptide, the competence-stimulating peptide (CSP) (20).

The development of competence in S. pneumoniae is accompanied by a drastic change in protein synthesis: synthesis of most cellular proteins is switched off and the production of at least 14 competence-specific proteins is initiated (34). Following the cessation of competence, synthesis of the normal complement of cellular proteins is resumed. Although the ability to take up exogenous DNA is inducible, no competence-specific genes encoding components of the DNA binding and entry mechanisms have yet been identified. It is curious that EndA, the major S. pneumoniae endonuclease implicated in DNA processing and uptake, is a constitutive enzyme and is thought to be recruited by competence-specific proteins to form a DNA entry site (44). The only competence-inducible loci characterized thus far are the rec operon which includes two genes essential for transformation, recA and cinA (exp10), and the comCDE locus, which includes three quorum-sensing genes (30, 39, 41). The identification of the other competence-inducible loci is required to understand the mechanism of competence development in S. pneumoniae and to determine what proportion of such genes is important for transformation.

In this study, we report identification, cloning, and genetic analysis of three additional S. pneumoniae genetic loci, cel, cgl, and coi, the expression of which is competence specific and which include genes required for genetic transformation.

    MATERIALS AND METHODS
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Materials & Methods
Results
Discussion
References

Bacterial strains and plasmids. S. pneumoniae CP strains used in this study are descended from strain Rx, which was originally derived from R36A (3). Strain CP1500 (hex nov-r1 bry-r str-r1 ery-r2 ery-r6) was used as a source of the Novr marker in transformation assays. CP1250 (hex malM511 str-1 bgl-1) is a CP1200 derivative with low beta -galactosidase (beta -Gal) activity (41). Strains CP1253, CP1254, and CP1255 are mutants bearing the chromosome-integrated pEVP3 vector. Escherichia coli host strains for plasmid propagation and for cloning of pneumococcal DNA were DH1, DH5alpha , and DH10B. Plasmids used and constructed in this study are listed in Table 1. pEVP3 is a lacZ reporter vector for insertion mutagenesis in S. pneumoniae (9).

                              
View this table:
[in this window]
[in a new window]
  		TABLE 1.   Plasmids used and constructed in this study

Media. E. coli cells for plasmid DNA isolation were grown in either Luria-Bertani (LB) or Terrific broth (TB) (49). The solid medium was LB agar supplemented with antibiotics. For selection of plasmid-encoded drug resistance in E. coli, ampicillin (100 µg/ml), chloramphenicol (34 µg/ml), or erythromycin (500 µg/ml) was added. Casein hydrolysate (CAT) broth (35) was used to grow S. pneumoniae cultures. When CAT broth was used to grow cells in plates, 1.5% of agar (Difco Co.) was added to the medium. The medium was supplemented with antibiotics (novobiocin, 2.5 µg/ml; chloramphenicol, 2 µg/ml; or erythromycin, 2 µg/ml) as required. All the drugs were purchased from Sigma Chemical, Inc. Complete transformation medium (CTM), used to grow S. pneumoniae cultures for competence assay, was made by adding 1/100 volume of 0.1 M CaCl2 (analytical grade reagent; Fisher Scientific), and 1/20 volume of 4% bovine serum albumin solution (fraction V; Sigma Co.) into complete CAT broth before use.

General S. pneumoniae culture conditions. Unless specified otherwise, S. pneumoniae cultures were grown in broth at 37°C without aeration. To grow isolated colonies of S. pneumoniae, plates containing three or four layers of CAT-based culture medium with agar were used. The second layer was inoculated with pneumococcal cells at the appropriate dilution. Antibiotics for the selection of transformants were added to the fourth (top) layer in the relevant concentration ×4 (double-overlay method [35]). 5-Bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-beta -D-galactopyranoside (X-Gal) indicator plates were prepared by spreading X-Gal solution (20 mg/ml in N,N-dimethylformamide) over the bottom layer of broth agar.

S. pneumoniae transformation and competence assays. Pneumococcal cultures were initiated at an optical density at 550 nm (OD550) of 0.001 (about 106 cells/ml) in CTM broth supplemented with 9 mM HCl (initial pH about 6.6) to suppress spontaneous development of competence and grown at 37°C. When cultures reached an OD550 of 0.1, 2 µg of transforming DNA per ml was added to the culture, and competence was induced by the addition of NaOH to a final concentration of 9 mM and pH of about 7.2 (36), synthetic CSP (100 ng/ml; Chiron Mimotopes), or both. After incubation for 1 h at 37°C to allow development of competence, uptake of DNA, and integration of new alleles, samples were diluted and plated with an appropriate antibiotic for the selection of transformants by the double-overlay method (35).

Assay of beta -Gal activity. The assay of beta -Gal activity was performed as described previously (33, 41). To screen large number of clones for beta -Gal production under conditions specific for the induction of competence, each clone was induced to competence in CTM broth essentially as described above, incubated at 37°C for 45 min, and assayed for Novr transformants and for beta -Gal activity (by an o-nitrophenyl-beta -D-galactopyranoside [ONPG] test performed in microtiter wells, using 250 µl of cell extract and 50 µl of ONPG solution). Plates were incubated either at room temperature or at 37°C for 5 h and scored for the yellow color produced.

Isolation of plasmid DNA. Small-scale plasmid DNA purification from E. coli cells was carried out by an alkaline lysis method as described previously (49). Large-scale isolation of plasmid DNA was carried out by using Wizard Maxipreps DNA Purification System (Promega Corp.) as described in the manufacturer's manual.

To recover chromosome-integrated mutagenic plasmids from S. pneumoniae cells, crude plasmid DNA preparations obtained by the method of Stassi et al. (53) were used for electroporation into E. coli DH10B. Typical yields were 10 to 15 chloramphenicol-resistant clones per µg of DNA.

Construction of random lacZ transcriptional fusion library in S. pneumoniae. To make the insertion library, pools of integrative mutagenic plasmids were created by the following procedure. S. pneumoniae chromosomal DNA was digested with TaqI and filled in with Klenow enzyme (New England Biolabs, Inc.) leaving 1-bp (C) 5' overhangs. pEVP3 vector was digested with BamHI and partially filled in with Klenow enzyme to leave 5' G overhangs. After ligation, hybrid plasmids were transformed into E. coli DH1. Cmr E. coli clones containing amplified mutagenic plasmids were selected and pooled for plasmid purification. Restriction analysis of selected clones showed that about 30,000 pEVP3-based insertion plasmids were recovered. Mixtures of purified mutagenic plasmids were transformed into S. pneumoniae CP1250, and Cmr transformants containing pEVP3 vector integrated into different chromosomal loci were selected on the surface of CAT agar containing chloramphenicol. To store the resulting insertion libraries, Cmr colonies were washed from the surface of the agar, diluted in CAT broth to an OD550 of about 0.05, incubated for 2 h at 37°C, and frozen at -80°C in 12% glycerol.

DNA sequencing and sequence analysis. DNA sequencing was carried out at the Interdisciplinary Center for Biotechnology Research, University of Florida, Gainesville, using template plasmid DNA prepared by Wizard Maxipreps DNA Purification System or PCR-generated DNA fragments purified with Ultrafree-MC centrifugal filter units (Millipore Corporation). DNA and protein sequence analysis was performed with the DNASIS program (Hitachi America, Ltd.) and EditSeq program (DNASTAR, Inc.). DNA and protein sequence homology searches were carried out at EMBL (14) by running FASTA (40) and at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) (U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health) by running Entrez (4) or BLAST (2). DNA and protein sequence alignment was carried out by the CLUSTAL V method (21), using the MegAlign program (DNASTAR, Inc.).

The following strategy was used for sequencing of the three competence-inducible loci. Nucleotide sequences of the 2,600-bp fragment (coi) carried by the plasmid pXF511, the 2,364-bp fragment (cel) carried by pXF512, and the 3,119-bp fragment (cgl) locus carried by pXF513 were determined by direct sequencing using plasmid DNA as a template. Primers used for the first sequencing reactions, upstream primer DAM087 (5'-ACCCGGGAGCTCGAATTCTA-3') and downstream primer DAM072 (5'-CTTCCACAGTAGTTCACCACCT-3') were complementary to pEVP3 sequences adjacent to the insert. Primers internal to the chromosomal insert were designed for the subsequent reactions to obtain and verify the complete DNA sequence of the fragments in both strands.

To determine the sequence of a 1,482-bp chromosomal region upstream of the cloned 2,364-kb fragment of the cel locus, S. pneumoniae chromosomal DNA was digested with NheI, ligated to an XbaI-cut pEVP3, and PCR amplified with primers DAM087, which is complementary to pEVP3 upstream of the insert, and DAM117 (5'-GTCAAGCCCAATCGCAAGA-3'), located in the previously sequenced region. The resulting PCR product was directly sequenced with the same primers and additional internal primers.

To determine the sequence upstream of the 3,119-kb fragment, S. pneumoniae chromosomal DNA was digested with SspI restriction enzyme and ligated to a SmaI-cut pEVP3. The upstream fragment inserted in the vector in the orientation opposite that of the 3,119-bp insert in pXF513 was PCR amplified with primers DAM072, which is complementary to pEVP3 sequence downstream of the insert, and DAM118 (5'-TTGCTCATTCCACTTGGCTG-3'), located in the previously sequenced region. The resulting PCR product was sequenced with the same primers. Part (807 bp) of the new sequence obtained from these primers was combined with the previously determined sequence of the 3,119-bp chromosomal fragment.

Gene disruption mutagenesis. Two methods were used for gene disruption. One method employed integration of pEVP3 into the gene of interest targeted by an internal fragment of the gene, while the second method involved either interruption or replacement of genes with the erythromycin resistance cassette, syn erm, derived from M13eryAD (9) by PCR amplification of a 1,657-bp fragment bearing syn erm flanked by convenient restriction sites. S. pneumoniae CP1250 was used for mutagenesis. Mutants were selected on CAT agar containing either chloramphenicol or erythromycin. The structure of each pEVP3 insertion was verified by PCR amplification of a junction fragment using primer DAM072, which is complementary to pEVP3 sequences, and a second primer located upstream of the integrated vector.

To target integration of pEVP3 into orfl1 of the 2,610-bp coi locus, a mutagenic plasmid was made by subcloning a 506-bp SphI-NheI fragment of this gene, derived from pXF511, into SphI-XbaI-digested pEVP3. Both pEVP3 and a syn erm cassette were employed for disruption of coiA. Mutagenic plasmid pXF523 was used to insert pEVP3 into this gene. The plasmid was constructed by subcloning a 314-bp EcoRI-XbaI coiA fragment, derived from pXF511 and filled in with Klenow enzyme on the EcoRI end, into SmaI-XbaI-digested pEVP3. To disrupt coiA with the syn erm cassette, pXF524 was constructed with syn erm inserted into a coiA fragment. The PCR-amplified syn erm cassette was digested with SmaI and subcloned into the pXF511 SacII site treated with T4 DNA polymerase to remove 3' overhangs. The resulting plasmid, pXF524, was linearized with SalI and transformed into S. pneumoniae CP1250 to disrupt the chromosomal coiA gene by homologous recombination.

Two genes, celB and orfr1, were disrupted in the cel locus. To create pEVP3 insertion disruption of celB, a mutagenic plasmid, pXF525, was created by subcloning a 1,283-bp SphI-NheI fragment of celB derived from pXF512 into SphI-XbaI-digested pEVP3. orfr1 was disrupted by insertion of the syn erm cassette by using pXF526, a pXF512 derivative that contained syn erm subcloned into the orfr1 fragment. The plasmid was constructed by insertion of the syn erm cassette on a SmaI-digested PCR fragment of M13eryAD into a T4 polymerase-treated BsmI site of pXF512. To replace the chromosomal orfr1 with the disrupted copy, pXF526 was linearized with SalI and transformed into S. pneumoniae CP1250.

A 895-bp fragment of the cgl chromosomal locus that included the 3' end of cglB, the complete cglC gene, and the 5' end of cglE, was replaced with the syn erm cassette, using pXF528. To make pXF528, an XbaI-FspI fragment of PCR-amplified syn erm was inserted into pXF513 digested with PmlI and SpeI. cglE was disrupted by an insertion of pEVP3 derivative pXF527, created by subcloning a 351-bp PstI-SphI fragment of cglE from pXF513 into NsiI and XbaI sites of pEVP3.

Nucleotide sequence accession numbers. The coi, cel, and cgl nucleotide sequences are available at GenBank as accessions AF052207, AF052208, and AF052209, respectively.

    RESULTS
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Materials & Methods
Results
Discussion
References

Identification of competence-specific loci by screening a random transcriptional fusion library in S. pneumoniae. The strategy adopted for identification of competence-specific loci included making a random transcriptional fusion library in S. pneumoniae and identifying clones demonstrating competence-specific expression of the integrated lacZ reporter. Construction of a library in which pEVP3 is inserted at random sites of the S. pneumoniae chromosome involved cloning small restriction fragments of S. pneumoniae chromosomal DNA into the multiple cloning site of the vector to create a pool of integrative mutagenic plasmids, transforming these plasmids into S. pneumoniae CP1250 (malM511 str-1 bgl-1) (41), and selecting the resulting Cmr clones.

The insertion vector pEVP3 bears a chloramphenicol resistance determinant, the syn cat cassette, which was shown previously (9) to be autonomously expressed when inserted in the S. pneumoniae chromosome in a single copy. Therefore, the distribution of pEVP3 chromosomal inserts in the library was expected to be relatively random. In fact, we observed that the pEVP3 insertion library contained clones that formed colonies of different color intensities on X-Gal plates, showing that in this library the lacZ reporter gene was randomly fused to operons with different levels of expression. In total, about 20% of all colonies in the pEVP3 insertion library were blue. Assuming that in only one of two clones, the reporter gene is inserted in the same orientation as in the target gene, we conclude that 40% of plasmid inserts in the pEVP3 library were in active genes.

The transcriptional fusion library was screened for clones in which beta -Gal production was activated under conditions specific for competence induction. From 200 independent clones examined individually by an ONPG assay following competence induction, three insertion mutants demonstrated significantly higher levels of beta -Gal production when induced to competence. In all three, the presence of a chromosome-integrated pEVP3 vector was confirmed by Southern hybridization analysis (data not shown). The mutants were designated strains CP1253, CP1254, and CP1255.

Initial characterization of the inducible insertion mutant strains CP1253, CP1254, and CP1255 and competence-specific induction of integrated lacZ reporter. To confirm that in the insertion strains CP1253, CP1254, and CP1255, the induction of beta -Gal was competence specific, we examined the dependence of the expression of the lacZ transcriptional fusions on the conditions specific for competence induction: pH shift in a growing culture and the addition of the competence pheromone, CSP (41). In all three mutants, the expression of lacZ was induced to similar levels after pH shift, CSP addition, or both in combination. Accompanying induction of competence (Table 2), expression of the reporter increased 4- to 100-fold. Therefore, the peptide activator induces both competence development in the mutant strains and expression of the chromosomal loci bearing the integrated lacZ reporter gene.

                              
View this table:
[in this window]
[in a new window]
  		TABLE 2.   Competence and beta -Gal induction in independent clones of mutant strains CP1253, CP1254, and CP1255

The timing of this competence-specific expression was analyzed (Fig. 1). When beta -Gal production was activated by induction with NaOH, the increase in enzyme activity closely coincided with the development of competence in all three mutant strains. The addition of trypsin, an inhibitor of competence induction in S. pneumoniae (55), prior to the induction with NaOH completely abolished both competence induction and activation of beta -Gal production in all three mutant strains. Thus, the chromosomal loci bearing an integrated pEVP3 vector in mutant strains CP1253, CP1254, and CP1255 are specifically induced during competence for genetic transformation and depend on CSP for their expression.


View larger version (25K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
  		FIG. 1.   Competence and beta -Gal production in mutant strains after induction with the pH shift. Mutant strains CP1253 (A), CP1254 (B), and CP1255 (C) are shown. A culture of each mutant strain was grown from 106 cells/ml to an OD550 of 0.15 in CTM containing 9 mM HCl and split in two portions, one of which was induced to competence with 9 mM NaOH (large arrow). The number of Novr transformants and beta -Gal activity (in Miller units [M.U.]) were determined at 5-min intervals. Trypsin was added to one of the two portions of each culture (2 µg/ml).

Cloning and nucleotide sequence analysis of loci of pEVP3 integration from the inducible mutant strains CP1253, CP1254, and CP1255. The vector pEVP3, used to create the transcriptional fusions in the S. pneumoniae chromosome, also provided a convenient tool for direct cloning of the inducible loci, as recombination between the duplicated chromosomal regions generated during its integration leads to spontaneous excision of the original transforming plasmid (59, 60) bearing the same fragment of chromosomal DNA as directed the original insertion. Excised plasmids were recovered by isolation of "plasmid DNA" from the insertion strain followed by transformation into a recA mutant strain of E. coli with selection for the plasmid-encoded drug resistance. In the present study, we employed this method to clone fragments of the loci of pEVP3 integration from inducible mutant strains CP1253, CP1254, and CP1255 as plasmids pXF511, pXF512, and pXF513, respectively.

To characterize the competence-specific chromosomal loci further, we determined and analyzed the nucleotide sequences of chromosomal inserts in each of the recovered plasmids. Additional sequence information was obtained for mutant strains CP1254 and CP1255 by direct sequencing of PCR-amplified regions located upstream of the cloned fragments. The 2,610-bp chromosomal locus from CP1253 will be referred to hereafter as coi (for competence inducible). The 3,845-bp locus from CP1254 and the 3,926-bp locus from CP1255 were named cel and cgl, respectively. As discussed below, this designation was based on their homology to B. subtilis late competence operons comE and comG (cel for comE-like and cgl for comG-like). Genetic maps of coi, cel, and cgl loci are given in Fig. 2.


View larger version (35K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
  		FIG. 2.   Organization and gene disruption mutagenesis of coi, cel, and cgl loci. The genetic map of each locus indicates ORFs and putative promoter (small arrows) and terminator (wide vertical line) regions. The insertion plasmids pXF522, pXF523, pXF525, and pXF527 are shown as ellipses above the restriction map of each locus, with targeting fragments as boxes. Plasmids pXF524 and pXF526 carry syn erm inserted into coiA and cel orfr1, respectively. In pXF528, genes cglB to cglD are replaced with syn erm. Syn erm carried by pXF524, pXF526, and pXF528 is indicated by a black box. The portion of the chromosomal cgl locus replaced with syn erm is shown by broken lines. Shaded genes are those for which disruption results in transformation deficiency. The targeting fragments of pXF511, pXF512, and pXF513 plasmids are shown below the map line (in base pairs).

Nucleotide sequence analysis revealed the presence of two open reading frames (ORFs) in the coi locus, one of which was truncated on the right at the point of fusion to the pEVP3 lacZ gene. Both ORFs were preceded by putative Shine-Dalgarno sequences (51). These ORFs were designated orfl1 and coiA (Fig. 2). An additional truncated ORF, orfl2, was found immediately upstream of orfl1.

Three ORFs were identified in the cel locus. Two of these ORFs start with the ATG initiation codon and overlap by 14 nucleotides. The third ORF starts with TTG, frequently used as an initiation codon in gram-positive bacteria (29, 32), and is truncated on the left. Probable ribosome binding sites precede the first and third ORFs (37, 51). Analysis of the sequence upstream of the second ORF did not reveal any plausible ribosome binding site in the proximity of the initiation codon. A sequence with dyad symmetry that could form a stem-loop structure and possibly act as a rho-independent terminator (42) was found 246 bp downstream from the stop codon of the second ORF.

The cgl locus contained five ORFs, designated cglA, cglB, cglC, cglD, and cglE, all of which start with an ATG initiation codon, except for cglB, which appears to start with TTG. All of the ORFs are preceded by potential ribosome binding sites that shared similarity with the AGGAGG consensus sequence (37, 51). Two putative genes, cglC and cglD, overlapped by 5 nucleotides. Although no ORFs of significant length were found downstream of cglE, analysis of this putative intergenic region revealed two sequences with dyad symmetry 94 and 168 bp downstream from the cglE stop codon, respectively, that may function as rho-independent terminators.

Genetic analysis of the coi, cel, and cgl loci by gene disruption insertion mutagenesis. To determine if at least some genes in the coi, cel, and cgl loci are essential for transformation, we analyzed these loci by gene disruption mutagenesis, using either pEVP3 for creating insertion duplications or an erythromycin resistance cassette, syn erm (9), for gene interruption or replacement (Fig. 2). Since pEVP3 integration created transcriptional fusions with the lacZ reporter, this method allowed study of both the requirement of these genes for transformation and the level of their expression in mutant strains. The syn erm cassette used for gene disruption contained a synthetic promoter to allow autonomous expression of the erm gene in a single copy (9). Each insertion mutant was tested for competence (transformability). In addition, mutants bearing pEVP3 insertions were assayed for beta -Gal activity. As evident from Table 3, only one of the genes in the coiA locus is important for competence. Both pEVP3 integration and syn erm insertion in coiA caused a 100-fold decrease in transformability, while the disruption of orfl1 did not reduce the level of transformation. Furthermore, clones bearing pEVP3 integrated in orfl1, produced about 6 to 7 Miller units of beta -Gal in both induced and uninduced cultures, showing that the expression of this gene is not competence specific. In contrast to orfl1, coiA is apparently induced by CSP, since the addition of the peptide resulted in a twofold increase in the expression of the coiA-fused lacZ reporter.

                              
View this table:
[in this window]
[in a new window]
  		TABLE 3.   Competence and beta -Gal production in independent clones of different insertion strains

As shown in Table 3, strain CP1253 was transformed at wild-type levels, while a coiA disruption mutant demonstrated reduced transformability. This apparent discrepancy could be explained at least in part by the duplication of the entire locus extending to orfl2 in mutant strain CP1253. The duplicated region, created by integration of pXF511, includes one complete copy of coiA and its putative upstream regulatory sequences. Therefore, the function and regulation of this gene in mutant CP1253 were probably unaffected by plasmid integration.

Analysis of insertions in the cel locus revealed the presence of at least one gene essential for transformation, celB. The disruption of this gene by pEVP3 insertion resulted in more than a 100-fold decrease in transformability of the mutant clones, and celB::lacZ expression increased 10-fold upon induction with CSP. The disruption of orfr1, located downstream of celB, by an insertion of the syn erm cassette did not affect competence in the mutants, showing that this gene is not required for transformation. However, the orfr1::lacZ fusion created by the integration of pXF512 (Fig. 2) was induced during competence. It is possible that this induction was due to read-through transcription from celB. Alternatively, orfr1 could be induced at competence but is not essential for transformation. The reduced transformability of mutant strain CP1254 is also puzzling. This mutant contains a duplication of a 2,364-bp fragment extending from celB to orfr1 to produce one complete copy and one truncated copy of celB. It is possible, therefore, that this duplication of celB interferes with the normal process of transformation in mutant strain CP1254.

The phenotypes of cgl mutants indicated the importance of this locus for transformation. Replacement of cglB, cglC, and cglD with the syn erm cassette resulted in complete loss of transformability (Table 3). It is possible that this mutation may cause a phenotype via a polar effect on cglE if all cgl genes form a single operon. However, since the disruption of cglE by pEVP3 insertion also resulted in transformation deficiency, it can be concluded that at least one gene in the cgl locus, cglE, is essential for competence. The cglE::lacZ fusion was induced by CSP, suggesting that the activator peptide is involved in the regulation of cglE expression. It was also noticed that a cglE disruption mutant reduced levels of transformability more severely than the originally selected mutant strain CP1255 that was created by the integration of pXF513 into the cgl locus, a difference presumably due to the duplication of the 3,119-bp fragment of cgl locus including cglB, cglC, cglD, and cglE genes in mutant strain CP1255.

Predicted protein sequences and possible functions of the products of competence-specific loci. Amino acid sequences of coi, cel, and cgl translation products were compared to all known proteins in the NCBI database. While the search revealed no significant homology for the putative transformation-specific gene coiA, the cel and cgl loci were found to share the highest similarity with parts of B. subtilis comE and comG operons (Fig. 3).


View larger version (27K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
  		FIG. 3.   Homologs of S. pneumoniae cel and cgl loci. (A) Comparison of S. pneumoniae cel locus to B. subtilis comE operon (GenBank accession no. L15202), N. gonorrhoeae com locus (S75490), and H. influenzae rec2 gene (U32691). Genes encoding similar protein products are shown by the same shading; those demonstrating no similarity are not shaded. (B) Comparison of S. pneumoniae cgl locus to B. subtilis comG operon (M29691), P. aeruginosa pil (M32066), N. gonorrhoeae pil (U32588), A. hydrophila exe (X66504), and X. campestris xsp (X59079) operons. Genes encoding similar protein products are indicated by the same shading. Conserved N-terminal regions of pilins and pilin-like proteins are shown in black. Nucleotide-binding motifs that are similar in CglA, ComG1, PilB, PilF, ExeE, and XspE proteins are represented by hatched boxes.

The cel locus includes two putative genes, celA and celB, similar to the comEA and comEC genes of a B. subtilis competence-specific locus comE (19, 25) but lacks a homolog of the second gene in that operon, comEB. A 216-residue protein encoded by the celA gene is about 40% identical to a B. subtilis 205-amino-acid (aa) transmembrane protein ComEA required for DNA uptake during genetic transformation. A 753-residue protein product of celB gene is 30% identical over the entire length of the proteins to the 776-aa B. subtilis protein ComEC that was proposed to function as a part of an aqueous channel for DNA internalization. In addition, CelB is also related to DNA transport proteins from Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Haemophilus influenzae, sharing 41% identity with N. gonorrhoeae integral membrane protein ComA (15) in a 230-aa overlap, and 39% identity with Rec2 protein of H. influenzae (31) in a 237-aa overlap (Fig. 3A).

Four of five putative genes of the S. pneumoniae cgl locus, cglA, cglB, cglC, and cglD, encode polypeptides that exhibit their highest similarity to protein products of ORFs 1 to 4 of the B. subtilis comG operon (1). The comG locus is essential for transformation, consists of seven ORFs, and is thought to encode elements of a DNA translocation machine (5, 8). As demonstrated in Fig. 3B, B. subtilis comG and S. pneumoniae cgl operons have similar organizations. However, comG gene ORFs 5 to 7 are replaced in S. pneumoniae with an ORF, cglE, which, as will be discussed later, encodes a product similar to transport ATP-binding proteins. The database search revealed also a similarity between the cgl locus and two groups of genetic loci from gram-negative bacteria, one involved in pilus assembly and the other participating in protein secretion. Among these loci, the pilus biogenesis gene clusters from Pseudomonas aeruginosa (38) and N. gonorrhoeae (17, 27), and extracellular enzyme secretion operons from Xanthomonas campestris (12) and Aeromonas hydrophila (22) demonstrated the highest similarity to the cgl genes on the levels of both protein homology and genetic organization. These pilus assembly and protein secretion gene clusters are compared to competence-specific loci cgl and comG in Fig. 3B.

The 339-aa homolog of ComG1, CglA, is similar to the ATP-binding proteins required for export of extracellular enzymes (X. campestris XpsE and A. hydrophila ExeE) and for the pilus assembly (P. aeruginosa PilB and N. gonorrhoeae PilF). The similarity appears to be especially strong in the central part of the proteins that include a region highly conserved in nucleotide triphosphate (NTP)-binding domains of various ATP-binding proteins (the so-called Walker NTP-binding motifs [61]). The predicted protein product of cglB, a 291-aa polypeptide, shares the highest sequence similarity with B. subtilis ComG2 protein and the accessory integral membrane proteins of pilus assembly (PilC and PilG [57]) and protein secretion (ExeF and XpsF) pathways.

The predicted translation products of cglC and cglD genes are 109- and 135-aa proteins, respectively, that share similar N-terminal hydrophobic segments. This N-terminal part of both the CglC and CglD proteins resembles a hydrophobic region that is conserved in pilins from various gram-negative bacterial species and was implicated in protein-protein interaction of pilin subunits involved in the assembly of pili (50). This region is also conserved in B. subtilis ComG3, ComG4, and ComG5 proteins. The amino acid sequence alignment of this conserved region of CglC, CglD, ComG3, ComG4, and pilins from N. gonorrhoeae (pilin E [26]), Dichelobacter nodosus (13), Moraxella nonliquefaciens (58), P. aeruginosa (46), and Neisseria meningitidis (54) is presented in Fig. 4.


View larger version (23K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
  		FIG. 4.   Similarity of CglC and CglD to pilins and B. subtilis pilin-like proteins ComG3 and ComG4. Multiple-sequence alignment of N-terminal portions of S. pneumoniae CglC and CglD; B. subtilis (Bs) pilin-like proteins ComG3 and ComG4; and pilins from Neisseria gonorrhoeae (Ng) (pilin E; accession no. Z69262), Dichelobacter nodosus (Dn) (M92188), Moraxella nonliquefaciens (Mn) (P09829), P. aeruginosa (Pa) (L76605), and Neisseria meningitidis (Nm) (Z49820). Amino acid residues that are similar in the majority of the proteins (six of nine) are boxed. Amino acids that are identical in the majority of the proteins are indicated by white letters on black background. The hydrophobic domain following the K-G-F-T-L processing consensus sequence is indicated by the asterisks. Gaps introduced to maximize alignment are indicated by dashes.

Pilins, major subunits of pili, are processed by the removal of 5 or 6 aa residues from the N termini followed by N methylation of the highly conserved terminal Phe residue. The Gly residue which immediately precedes Phe was found to be required for pilin processing (38). This Gly residue and 3 aa surrounding the cleavage site (K-G-F-T-L [boldfaced amino acids become termini after cleavage]) are also conserved in ComG pilin-like proteins, one of which, ComG3 (ComC), has been shown to be processed during export to the cell surface (8). CglC and CglD, however, lack a Gly residue in this conserved sequence, suggesting that putative S. pneumoniae pilin-like proteins may not be processed, but rather anchored to the membrane, unless Ala could substitute for Gly in the processing site.

The 198-aa protein product of the last ORF in the cgl locus, cglE, did not share any significant similarity with either of the ComG proteins or any other known competence-related proteins. However, a BLAST search revealed similarity of CglE to ATP-binding protein components of transporters which belong to the superfamily of so-called ABC transporters or traffic ATPases (10). ATP-binding proteins of seven bacterial transport systems that demonstrated the highest similarity to CglE are aligned in Fig. 5. The regions of CglE similarity with these proteins include the NTP-binding Walker B motif (61) and the highly conserved glycine-glutamine-rich sequence L-S-G-G-Q-Q-Q, named the linker peptide, that is located between the membrane-spanning helical domain and the nucleotide-binding pocket in ABC transporters, and is also found in peptide linkers that join together separate domains within various other proteins (24). In ABC transporters, this amino acid sequence is thought to be involved in the signaling mechanism that leads to ATP hydrolysis and translocation of the receptor-bound substrate through the membrane by an interaction with the hydrophobic membrane domains of the transport systems and coupling ATP-dependent conformational changes to the transport process (10). Similar to ATP-binding proteins of ABC transporters (24), the linker peptide of CglE is located between the putative hydrophobic domain (aa 46 to 75) and the Walker B motif (aa 129 to 136). However, in contrast to transport proteins, CglE does not have the conserved glycine-rich Walker A motif (G-X-X-G-X-G-K) essential for the ATP binding; this may suggest that CglE is functionally different from ATP-binding components of ABC transporters.


View larger version (61K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
  		FIG. 5.   Similarity of S. pneumoniae CglE to ATP-binding components of traffic ATPases. Multiple-sequence alignment of regions of similarity between S. pneumoniae CglE (residues 1 to 173), Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae AfuC protein involved in iron transport (accession no. U04954 [7], residues 30 to 200), Klebsiella oxytoca CymD component of cyclodextrin transporter (S55406 [16], residues 29 to 204), Agrobacterium radiobacter LacK protein involved in lactose transport (Q01937 [62], residues 28 to 198), E. coli maltose-transporter component MalK (P02914 [18], residues 28 to 198), cellobiose/xylobiose transporter component MsiK of Streptomyces lividans (U12007 [23], residues 30 to 200), multiple-sugar-transport ATP-binding protein MsmK of Streptococcus mutans (Q00752 [47], residues 30 to 200), and Salmonella typhimurium LT2 2-aminoethylphosphate transporter component PhnT (U69483 [unpublished], residues 43 to 214). Amino acid residues that are similar in the majority of the proteins (six of nine) are boxed. Amino acids that are identical in the majority of the proteins are indicated by white letters on black background. The linker peptide with the consensus sequence L-S-G-G-Q-Q (***) and the Walker B nucleotide binding motif (~~~) are indicated. Gaps introduced to maximize alignment are indicated by dashes.

Putative competence-specific promoters. Previous observations on mechanisms of competence induction in S. pneumoniae (34, 56), combined with our recent data, suggest that the transcription of coi, cel, and cgl loci is activated upon competence induction by a competence-specific regulatory mechanism. The existence of a competence-specific mechanism of transcriptional regulation, possibly a transcription factor or an alternative sigma factor, could be inferred from the examination of nucleotide sequences upstream of the putative initiation codons of coiA, celA, and cglA. Although no obvious S. pneumoniae promoters (48) were found upstream of these genes, all these genes share a conserved nucleotide motif preceded by an AT-rich region, which is located 13 to 15 bp upstream of the ATG codon. A similar nucleotide sequence was described recently by Campbell and Masure (6) as a part of competence-specific promoters. The same nucleotide motif is also present upstream of exp10 (cinA), the first gene in the rec operon, as illustrated in Fig. 6. Interestingly, transcriptional mapping and Northern hybridization analysis of the rec operon have demonstrated the existence of a competence-specific promoter upstream of exp10 (recA) (30, 39). It is possible, therefore, that this competence-specific promoter is represented by a conserved sequence with a consensus TTACGAATANTATAGG, preceded by an AT-rich region.


View larger version (15K):
[in this window]
[in a new window]
  		FIG. 6.   Putative promoter region of competence-specific operons. Alignment of nucleotide sequences located upstream of coiA, celA, cglA, and exp10 initiation codons. Regions of identity are shown by the black background, while residues similar in three of four sequences are boxed. The consensus sequence is represented above the aligned sequences. Ribosome binding sites and ATG start codons are shaded. Gaps introduced to maximize alignment are indicated by dashes.

    DISCUSSION
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Materials & Methods
Results
Discussion
References

In this study, by screening a random insertion library containing lacZ transcriptional fusions to various S. pneumoniae chromosomal loci, we identified three insertion mutants, CP1253, CP1254, and CP1255, in which beta -Gal activity was induced specifically under the conditions of competence induction. In all three clones, activation of the lacZ reporter correlated with competence and depended on CSP. Inducible loci from mutants CP1253, CP1254, and CP1255 were named coi, cel, and cgl, respectively. Nucleotide sequence analysis identified the presence of three ORFs in the coi locus, three ORFs in the cel locus, and five ORFs in the cgl locus. The fact that genes at all three of the competence-specific loci, which were found on the basis of competence-linked expression, are important for formation of recombinants during transformation supports the proposal (34) that many or most of the proteins induced at competence would prove to be parts of the DNA-processing pathway of transformation.

In agreement with this hypothesis, comparison of cel translation products to all proteins in the NCBI database revealed a similarity of two putative genes of the cel locus, celA and celB, to comEA and comEC genes of B. subtilis comE operon essential for DNA uptake. In addition, celB was found to be similar to N. gonorrhoeae comA and H. influenzae rec2 genes that encode DNA transport proteins. This sequence similarity and the importance of celB for transformation suggest a possible role for CelB protein as a part of the DNA uptake machinery.

As discussed above, the S. pneumoniae cgl locus demonstrated significant similarity to the B. subtilis comG operon. Four ORFs of the cgl locus, cglA to cglD, were found to be homologous to the B. subtilis comG gene ORFs 1 to 4. A significant similarity was also found between the cgl locus and operons involved in pilus biogenesis and protein secretion in gram-negative bacteria. On the basis of amino acid sequence analysis, cgl protein products were predicted to represent elements of the multicomponent DNA transport machine.

CglA and CglB proteins demonstrated homology to B. subtilis transformation-specific proteins ComG1 and ComG2 and to proteins required either for the excretion of enzymes (general secretion pathway proteins; for example, products of A. hydrophila exeE and exeF genes represented in Fig. 3) or for the assembly of pili (products of P. aeruginosa pilB and pilC in Fig. 3) in a variety of bacterial species. On the basis of their homology to the components of protein transport systems, ComG1 and ComG2 have been suggested to participate in the assembly of a DNA translocation machine (11). It is possible that a similar role is performed by S. pneumoniae proteins CglA and CglB. This hypothesis is also be supported by the fact that cglA and cglB homologs in N. gonorrhoeae, pilF and pilG, are required for genetic transformation (17, 57).

The small proteins CglC and CglD could possibly be assembled in multimeric membrane-associated pore-like structures similar to those presumably formed by homologous pilin-like components of the general secretion pathway (43). These components, for example, protein products of A. hydrophila exeG to exeJ genes (Fig. 3), share homology with CglC and CglD proteins. Similar pilin-like proteins in B. subtilis, ComG3 to ComG7, are thought to form a multimeric complex for the binding and uptake of transforming DNA (8, 11). One of these proteins, ComG3 (ComGC), was shown to be required for DNA binding during genetic transformation in B. subtilis and is thought to assemble with ComG4, ComG5, ComG6, and ComG7 to form a cell surface-associated structure, possibly a pore, for the binding and uptake of transforming DNA. Interestingly, N. gonorrhoeae pilin, PilE, has been found to be required for DNA uptake during transformation (45). This involvement of pilins and pilin-like proteins in transformation may suggest similar functions for CglC and CglD.

The product of the transformation-specific cglE gene exhibits partial homology to ATP-binding components of ABC transporters and is essential for transformation; therefore, it could be involved in DNA translocation across the cytoplasmic membrane as a part of the multicomponent protein mechanism that takes up DNA.

Genes specifically induced at competence and encoding proteins involved in DNA binding, transport, and genetic recombination can be characterized as late competence genes (11). A total of four pneumococcal late competence loci have now been identified, including three discovered in this study. Interestingly, all four loci have a similar nucleotide motif in their putative promoter regions, which may indicate the existence of a common mechanism coordinating their expression during competence. While the functions of recA, cgl, and cel loci either are demonstrated experimentally or can be predicted on the basis of protein homology, the function of coiA, the only competence-specific gene in the third locus identified in this study, is not known. No significant homology to any proteins with known function was found in databases for CoiA protein. Further studies are required to find the role of coiA in transformation, test the hypothetical function of Cel and Cgl proteins in DNA uptake, and determine whether additional components of the DNA binding and translocation complex exist, and how these components interact during DNA uptake.

    FOOTNOTES

* Corresponding author. Present address: Department of Pathology, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60611. Phone: (312) 503-0951. Fax: (312) 503-8240. E-mail address: e-pestova{at}nwu.edu.

    REFERENCES
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Materials & Methods
Results
Discussion
References

1. Albano, M., R. Breitling, and D. Dubnau. 1989. Nucleotide sequence and genetic organization of the Bacillus subtilis comG operon. J. Bacteriol. 171:5386-5404[Abstract/Free Full Text].
2. Altschul, S. F., W. Gish, W. Miller, E. W. Myers, and D. J. Lipman. 1990. Basic local alignment search tool. J. Mol. Biol. 215:403-410[Medline].
3. Avery, O. T., M. MacLeod, and M. McCarty. 1944. Studies on the chemical nature of the substance inducing transformation of pneumococcal types. Induction of transformation by a desoxyribonucleic acid fraction isolated from pneumococcus type III. J. Exp. Med. 79:137-158[Abstract].
4. Boguski, M. S. 1994. Bioinformatics. Curr. Opin. Genet. Dev. 4:383-388[Medline].
5. Breitling, R., and D. Dubnau. 1990. A pilin-like membrane protein is essential for DNA binding by competent Bacillus subtilis. J. Bacteriol. 172:1499-1508[Abstract/Free Full Text].
6. Campbell, E. A., and H. R. Masure. 1996. Competence induced promoters in S. pneumoniae, abstr. H109, p. 502. In Abstracts of the 96th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. American Society for Microbiology, Washington, D.C.
7. Chin, N., J. Frey, C. F. Chang, and Y. F. Chang. 1996. Identification of a locus involved in the utilization of iron by Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 143:1-6[Medline].
8. Chung, Y. S., and D. Dubnau. 1995. ComC is required for the processing and translocation of ComGC, a pilin-like competence protein of Bacillus subtilis. Mol. Microbiol. 15:543-551[Medline].
9. Claverys, J.-P., A. Dintilhac, E. V. Pestova, B. Martin, and D. A. Morrison. 1995. Construction and evaluation of new drug-resistance cassettes for gene disruption mutagenesis in Streptococcus pneumoniae, using an ami test platform. Gene 164:123-128[Medline].
10. Doige, C. A., and G. F.-L. Ames. 1993. ATP-dependent transport systems in bacteria and humans: relevance to cystic fibrosis and multidrug resistance. Annu. Rev. Microbiol. 47:291-319[Medline].
11. Dubnau, D. 1993. Genetic exchange and homologous recombination, p. 555-584. In A. L. Sonenshein, J. A. Hoch, and R. Losick (ed.), Bacillus subtilis and other gram-positive bacteria. Biochemistry, physiology, and molecular genetics. American Society for Microbiology, Washington, D.C.
12. Dums, F., J. M. Dow, and M. J. Daniels. 1991. Structural characterization of protein secretion genes of the bacterial phytopathogen Xanthomonas campestris pathovar campestris: relatedness to secretion systems of other gram-negative bacteria. Mol. Gen. Genet. 229:357-364[Medline].
13. Elleman, T. C., D. J. Stewart, K. G. Finney, P. A. Hoyne, and C. W. Ward. 1990. Pilins from the B serogroup of Bacteroides nodosus: characterization, expression and cross-protection. Infect. Immun. 58:1545-1551[Abstract/Free Full Text].
14. Emmert, D. B., P. J. Stoehr, G. Stoesser, and G. N. Cameron. 1994. The European bioinformatics institute (EBI) databases. Nucleic Acids Res. 22:3445-3449[Abstract/Free Full Text].
15. Facius, D., and T. F. Meyer. 1993. A novel determinant (ComA) essential for natural transformation competence in Neisseria gonorrhoeae and the effect of a comA defect on pilin variation. Mol. Microbiol. 10:699-712[Medline].
16. Fiedler, G., M. Pajatsch, and A. Bock. 1996. Genetics of a novel starch utilization pathway present in Klebsiella oxytoca. J. Mol. Biol. 256:279-291[Medline].
17. Freitag, N. E., H. S. Seifert, and M. Koomey. 1995. Characterization of the pilF-pilD pilus-assembly locus of Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Mol. Microbiol. 16:575-586[Medline].
18. Gilson, E., H. Nikaido, and M. Hofnung. 1982. Sequence of the malK gene in E. coli K12. Nucleic Acids Res. 10:7449-7458[Abstract/Free Full Text].
19. Hahn, J., G. Inamine, Y. Kozlov, and D. Dubnau. 1993. Characterization of comE, a late competence operon of B. subtilis required for the binding and uptake of transforming DNA. Mol. Microbiol. 10:99-111[Medline].
20. Håvarstein, L. S., G. Coomaraswamy, and D. A. Morrison. 1995. An unmodified heptadecapeptide pheromone induces competence for genetic transformation in Streptococcus pneumoniae. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 92:11140-11144[Abstract/Free Full Text].
21. Higgins, D. G., A. J. Bleasby, and P. M. Sharp. 1992. ClustalV: improved software for multiple sequence alignment. CABIOS 8:189-191. [Abstract/Free Full Text]
22. Howard, S. P., J. Critch, and A. Bedi. 1993. Isolation and analysis of eight exe genes and their involvement in extracellular protein secretion and outer membrane assembly in Aeromonas hydrophila. J. Bacteriol. 175:6695-6703[Abstract/Free Full Text].
23. Hurtubise, Y., F. Shareck, D. Kluepfel, and R. Morosoli. 1995. A cellulase/xylanase-negative mutant of Streptomyces lividans 1326 defective in cellobiose and xylobiose uptake is mutated in a gene encoding a protein homologous to ATP-binding proteins. Mol. Microbiol. 17:367-377[Medline].
24. Hyde, S. C., P. Emsley, M. J. Hartshorn, M. M. Mimmack, U. Gileadi, S. R. Pearce, M. P. Gallagher, D. R. Gill, R. E. Hubbard, and C. F. Higgins. 1990. Structural model of ATP-binding proteins associated with cystic fibrosis, multidrug resistance and bacterial transport. Nature 346:362-365[Medline].
25. Inamine, G. S., and D. Dubnau. 1995. ComEA, a B. subtilis integral membrane protein required for genetic transformation, is needed both for DNA binding and transport. J. Bacteriol. 177:3045-3051[Abstract/Free Full Text].
26. Jonsson, A. B., D. Ilver, P. Falk, J. Pepose, and S. Normak. 1994. Sequence changes in the pilus subunit lead to tropism variation of Neisseria gonorrhoeae to human tissue. Mol. Microbiol. 13:403-416[Medline].
27. Lauer, P. 1993. Conservation of genes encoding components of a type IV pilus assembly two-step protein export pathway in Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Mol. Microbiol. 8:357-368[Medline].
28. Lorenz, M. G., and W. Wackernagel. 1994. Bacterial gene transfer by natural genetic transformation in the environment. Microbiol. Rev. 58:563-602[Abstract/Free Full Text].
29. Malke, H. 1986. Codon usage in streptococci. J. Basic Microbiol. 26:587-595[Medline].
30. Martin, B., P. Garcia, M.-P. Castanie, and J.-P. Claverys. 1995. The recA gene of Streptococcus pneumoniae is part of a competence-induced operon and controls lysogenic induction. Mol. Microbiol. 15:367-379[Medline].
31. McCarthy, D. 1989. Cloning of the rec2 locus of Haemophilus influenzae. Gene 75:135-143[Medline].
32. McLaughlin, J. R., C. L. Murray, and J. C. Rabinowitz. 1981. Unique features in the ribosome binding site sequence of the gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus beta-lactamase gene. J. Biol. Chem. 256:11283-11291[Abstract/Free Full Text].
33. Miller, J. H. 1972. In Experiments in molecular genetics. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.
34. Morrison, D. A., and M. F. Baker. 1979. Competence for genetic transformation in pneumococcus depends on synthesis of a small set of proteins. Nature 282:215-217[Medline].
35. Morrison, D. A., S. A. Lacks, W. R. Guild, and J. M. Hageman. 1983. Isolation and characterization of three new classes of transformation-deficient mutants of Streptococcus pneumoniae that are defective in DNA transport and genetic recombination. J. Bacteriol. 156:281-290[Abstract/Free Full Text].
36. Morrison, D. A., B. Mannarelli, and M. N. Vijayakumar. 1982. Competence for transformation in Streptococcus pneumoniae: an inducible high-capacity system for genetic exchange, p. 136-138. In D. Schlessinger (ed.), Microbiology---1982. American Society for Microbiology, Washington, D.C.
37. Murray, C. L., and J. C. Rabinowitz. 1982. Nucleotide sequences of transcription and translation initiation regions in bacillus phage phi-29 early genes. J. Biol. Chem. 257:1053-1062[Abstract/Free Full Text].
38. Nunn, D., S. Bergman, and S. Lory. 1990. Products of three accessory genes, pilB, pilC, and pilD, are required for biogenesis of Pseudomonas aeruginosa pili. J. Bacteriol. 172:2911-2919[Abstract/Free Full Text].
39. Pearce, B. J., A. M. Naughton, E. A. Campbell, and H. R. Masure. 1995. The rec locus, a competence-induced operon in Streptococcus pneumoniae. J. Bacteriol. 177:86-93[Abstract/Free Full Text].
40. Pearson, W. R., and D. J. Lipman. 1988. Improved tools for biological sequence comparison. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 85:2444-2448[Abstract/Free Full Text].
41. Pestova, E. V., L. S. Håvarstein, and D. A. Morrison. 1996. Regulation of competence for genetic transformation in Streptococcus pneumoniae by an auto-induced peptide pheromone and a two-component regulatory system. Mol. Microbiol. 21:853-862[Medline].
42. Platt, T. 1986. Transcription termination and the regulation of gene expression. Annu. Rev. Biochem. 55:339-351[Medline].
43. Pugsley, A. P. 1996. Multimers of the precursor of a type IV pilin-like component of the general secretory pathway are unrelated to pili. Mol. Microbiol. 20:1235-1245[Medline].
44. Puyet, A., B. Greenberg, and S. Lacks. 1990. Genetic and structural characterization of EndA, a membrane-bound nuclease required for transformation of S. pneumoniae. J. Mol. Biol. 213:727-738[Medline].
45. Rudel, T., D. Facius, R. Barten, I. Sheuerpflug, E. Nonnenmacher, and T. F. Meyer. 1995. Role of pili and the phase-variable PilC protein in natural competence for transformation of Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 92:7986-7990[Abstract/Free Full Text].
46. Russel, M. A., and A. Darzins. 1994. The pilE gene product of Pseudomonas aerugenosa, required for pili biogenesis, shares amino acid sequence identity with the N-termini of type 4 prepilin proteins. Mol. Microbiol. 13:973-985[Medline].
47. Russel, R. R., J. Aduse-Opoku, I. C. Sutcliffe, L. Tao, and J. J. Ferretti. 1992. A binding protein-dependent transport system in Streptococcus mutans responsible for multiple sugar metabolism. J. Biol. Chem. 267:4631-4637[Abstract/Free Full Text].
48. Sabelnikov, A. G., B. Greenberg, and S. A. Lacks. 1995. An extended -10 promoter alone directs transcription of the Dpn II operon of Streptococcus pneumoniae. J. Mol. Biol. 250:144-145[Medline].
49. Sambrook, J., E. F. Fritsch, and T. Maniatis. 1989. In Molecular cloning: a laboratory manual. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.
50. Schoolnik, G. K., R. Fernandez, J. Y. Tai, J. Rothbard, and E. C. Gotschlich. 1984. Gonococcal pili. Primary structure and receptor binding domain. J. Exp. Med. 159:1351-1370[Abstract/Free Full Text].
51. Shine, J., and L. Dalgarno. 1975. Determinant of cistron specificity in bacterial ribosomes. Nature 254:34-38[Medline].
52. Solomon, J. M., and A. D. Grossman. 1996. Who's competent and when: regulation of natural genetic competence in bacteria. Trends Genet. 12:150-155[Medline].
53. Stassi, D. L., P. Lopez, M. Espinosa, and S. A. Lacks. 1981. Cloning of chromosomal genes in Streptococcus pneumoniae. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 78:7028-7032[Abstract/Free Full Text].
54. Taha, M. K., D. Giorgini, and X. Nassif. 1996. The pilA regulatory gene modulates the pilus-mediated adhesion of Neisseria meningitidis by controlling the transcription of pilC1. Mol. Microbiol. 19:1073-1084[Medline].
55. Tomasz, A. 1966. Model for the mechanism controlling the expression of competent state in pneumococcus cultures. J. Bacteriol. 91:1050-1061[Abstract/Free Full Text].
56. Tomasz, A., and R. D. Hotchkiss. 1964. Regulation of the transformability of pneumococcal cultures by macromolecular cell products. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 51:480-486[Free Full Text].
57. Tonjum, T., N. E. Freitag, E. Namork, and M. Koomey. 1995. Identification and characterization of pilG, a highly conserved pilus-assembly gene in pathogenic Neisseria. Mol. Microbiol. 16:451-464[Medline].
58. Tonjum, T., C. F. Marrs, F. Rozsa, and K. Bovre. 1991. The type 4 pilin of Moraxella nonliquefaciens exhibits unique similarities with the pilins of Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Dichelobacter (Bacteroides) nodosus. J. Gen. Microbiol. 137:2483-2490[Medline].
59. Vasseghi, H., and J.-P. Claverys. 1983. Amplification of a chimeric plasmid carrying an erythromycin-resistance determinant introduced into the chromosome of Streptococcus pneumoniae. Gene 21:285-292[Medline].
60. Vasseghi, H., J.-P. Claverys, and A. M. Sicard. 1981. Mechanism of integrating foreign DNA during transformation of Streptococcus pneumoniae, p. 137-154. In M. Polsinelli, and G. Mazza (ed.), Transformation---1980. Proceedings of the 5th European Meeting on Bacterial Transformation and Transfection. Cotswold Press Ltd., Oxford, England.
61. Walker, J. E., M. Saraste, M. J. Runswick, and N. J. Gay. 1982. Distantly related sequences in the alpha - and beta -subunits of ATP synthase, myosin, kinases and other ATP-requiring enzymes and a common nucleotide binding fold. EMBO J. 1:945-951[Medline].
62. Williams, S. G., J. A. Greenwood, and C. W. Jones. 1992. Molecular analysis of the lac operon encoding the binding-protein-dependent lactose transport system and beta-galactosidase in Agrobacterium radiobacter. Mol. Microbiol. 6:1755-1768[Medline].

J Bacteriol, May 1998, p. 2701-2710, Vol. 180, No. 10
0021-9193/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Niu, G., Okinaga, T., Zhu, L., Banas, J., Qi, F., Merritt, J. (2008). Characterization of irvR, a Novel Regulator of the irvA-Dependent Pathway Required for Genetic Competence and Dextran-Dependent Aggregation in Streptococcus mutans. J. Bacteriol. 190: 7268-7274 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Jeon, B., Muraoka, W., Sahin, O., Zhang, Q. (2008). Role of Cj1211 in Natural Transformation and Transfer of Antibiotic Resistance Determinants in Campylobacter jejuni. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 52: 2699-2708 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Burghout, P., Bootsma, H. J., Kloosterman, T. G., Bijlsma, J. J. E., de Jongh, C. E., Kuipers, O. P., Hermans, P. W. M. (2007). Search for Genes Essential for Pneumococcal Transformation: the RadA DNA Repair Protein Plays a Role in Genomic Recombination of Donor DNA. J. Bacteriol. 189: 6540-6550 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Saskova, L., Novakova, L., Basler, M., Branny, P. (2007). Eukaryotic-Type Serine/Threonine Protein Kinase StkP Is a Global Regulator of Gene Expression in Streptococcus pneumoniae. J. Bacteriol. 189: 4168-4179 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Desai, B. V., Morrison, D. A. (2006). An Unstable Competence-Induced Protein, CoiA, Promotes Processing of Donor DNA after Uptake during Genetic Transformation in Streptococcus pneumoniae.. J. Bacteriol. 188: 5177-5186 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Lalucat, J., Bennasar, A., Bosch, R., Garcia-Valdes, E., Palleroni, N. J. (2006). Biology of Pseudomonas stutzeri. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 70: 510-547 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Kloosterman, T. G., Bijlsma, J. J. E., Kok, J., Kuipers, O. P. (2006). To have neighbour's fare: extending the molecular toolbox for Streptococcus pneumoniae. Microbiology 152: 351-359 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Robertson, G. T., Doyle, T. B., Lynch, A. S. (2005). Use of an Efflux-Deficient Streptococcus pneumoniae Strain Panel To Identify ABC-Class Multidrug Transporters Involved in Intrinsic Resistance to Antimicrobial Agents. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 49: 4781-4783 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Petersen, F. C., Tao, L., Scheie, A. A. (2005). DNA Binding-Uptake System: a Link between Cell-to-Cell Communication and Biofilm Formation. J. Bacteriol. 187: 4392-4400 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Kinch, L. N., Ginalski, K., Rychlewski, L., Grishin, N. V. (2005). Identification of novel restriction endonuclease-like fold families among hypothetical proteins. Nucleic Acids Res 33: 3598-3605 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Yonezawa, H., Kuramitsu, H. K. (2005). Genetic Analysis of a Unique Bacteriocin, Smb, Produced by Streptococcus mutans GS5. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 49: 541-548 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Merritt, J., Qi, F., Shi, W. (2005). A unique nine-gene comY operon in Streptococcus mutans. Microbiology 151: 157-166 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Ulijasz, A. T., Andes, D. R., Glasner, J. D., Weisblum, B. (2004). Regulation of Iron Transport in Streptococcus pneumoniae by RitR, an Orphan Response Regulator. J. Bacteriol. 186: 8123-8136 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Daly, M. M., Doktor, S., Flamm, R., Shortridge, D. (2004). Characterization and Prevalence of MefA, MefE, and the Associated msr(D) Gene in Streptococcus pneumoniae Clinical Isolates. J. Clin. Microbiol. 42: 3570-3574 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Steinmoen, H., Teigen, A., Havarstein, L. S. (2003). Competence-Induced Cells of Streptococcus pneumoniae Lyse Competence-Deficient Cells of the Same Strain during Cocultivation. J. Bacteriol. 185: 7176-7183 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Wiesner, R. S., Hendrixson, D. R., DiRita, V. J. (2003). Natural Transformation of Campylobacter jejuni Requires Components of a Type II Secretion System. J. Bacteriol. 185: 5408-5418 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Friedrich, A., Rumszauer, J., Henne, A., Averhoff, B. (2003). Pilin-Like Proteins in the Extremely Thermophilic Bacterium Thermus thermophilus HB27: Implication in Competence for Natural Transformation and Links to Type IV Pilus Biogenesis. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 69: 3695-3700 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Martin-Galiano, A. J., de la Campa, A. G. (2003). High-Efficiency Generation of Antibiotic-Resistant Strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae by PCR and Transformation. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 47: 1257-1261 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Hava, D. L., Hemsley, C. J., Camilli, A. (2003). Transcriptional Regulation in the Streptococcus pneumoniae rlrA Pathogenicity Islet by RlrA. J. Bacteriol. 185: 413-421 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Mascher, T., Zahner, D., Merai, M., Balmelle, N., de Saizieu, A. B., Hakenbeck, R. (2003). The Streptococcus pneumoniae cia Regulon: CiaR Target Sites and Transcription Profile Analysis. J. Bacteriol. 185: 60-70 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Luo, P., Morrison, D. A. (2003). Transient Association of an Alternative Sigma Factor, ComX, with RNA Polymerase during the Period of Competence for Genetic Transformation in Streptococcus pneumoniae. J. Bacteriol. 185: 349-358 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Robertson, G. T., Zhao, J., Desai, B. V., Coleman, W. H., Nicas, T. I., Gilmour, R., Grinius, L., Morrison, D. A., Winkler, M. E. (2002). Vancomycin Tolerance Induced by Erythromycin but Not by Loss of vncRS, vex3, or pep27 Function in Streptococcus pneumoniae. J. Bacteriol. 184: 6987-7000 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Sebert, M. E., Palmer, L. M., Rosenberg, M., Weiser, J. N. (2002). Microarray-Based Identification of htrA, a Streptococcus pneumoniae Gene That Is Regulated by the CiaRH Two-Component System and Contributes to Nasopharyngeal Colonization. Infect. Immun. 70: 4059-4067 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Del Grosso, M., Iannelli, F., Messina, C., Santagati, M., Petrosillo, N., Stefani, S., Pozzi, G., Pantosti, A. (2002). Macrolide Efflux Genes mef(A) and mef(E) Are Carried by Different Genetic Elements in Streptococcus pneumoniae. J. Clin. Microbiol. 40: 774-778 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Friedrich, A., Prust, C., Hartsch, T., Henne, A., Averhoff, B. (2002). Molecular Analyses of the Natural Transformation Machinery and Identification of Pilus Structures in the Extremely Thermophilic Bacterium Thermus thermophilus Strain HB27. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 68: 745-755 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Friedrich, A., Hartsch, T., Averhoff, B. (2001). Natural Transformation in Mesophilic and Thermophilic Bacteria: Identification and Characterization of Novel, Closely Related Competence Genes in Acinetobacter sp. Strain BD413 and Thermus thermophilus HB27. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 67: 3140-3148 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Chen, I., Gotschlich, E. C. (2001). ComE, a Competence Protein from Neisseria gonorrhoeae with DNA-Binding Activity. J. Bacteriol. 183: 3160-3168 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Francis, K. P., Yu, J., Bellinger-Kawahara, C., Joh, D., Hawkinson, M. J., Xiao, G., Purchio, T. F., Caparon, M. G., Lipsitch, M., Contag, P. R. (2001). Visualizing Pneumococcal Infections in the Lungs of Live Mice Using Bioluminescent Streptococcus pneumoniae Transformed with a Novel Gram-Positive lux Transposon. Infect. Immun. 69: 3350-3358 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Chia, J.-S., Lee, Y.-Y., Huang, P.-T., Chen, J.-Y. (2001). Identification of Stress-Responsive Genes in Streptococcus mutans by Differential Display Reverse Transcription-PCR. Infect. Immun. 69: 2493-2501 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Graupner, S., Wackernagel, W. (2001). Pseudomonas stutzeri Has Two Closely Related pilA Genes (Type IV Pilus Structural Protein) with Opposite Influences on Natural Genetic Transformation. J. Bacteriol. 183: 2359-2366 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Curtis, M.A., Aduse-Opoku, J., Rangarajan, M. (2001). Cysteine Proteases of Porphyromonas Gingivalis. CROBM 12: 192-216 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Peterson, S., Cline, R. T., Tettelin, H., Sharov, V., Morrison, D. A. (2000). Gene Expression Analysis of the Streptococcus pneumoniae Competence Regulons by Use of DNA Microarrays. J. Bacteriol. 182: 6192-6202 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Schrag, S. J., Beall, B., Dowell, S. F. (2000). Limiting the Spread of Resistant Pneumococci: Biological and Epidemiologic Evidence for the Effectiveness of Alternative Interventions. Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 13: 588-601 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Croft, L., Beatson, S. A., Whitchurch, C. B., Huang, B., Blakeley, R. L., Mattick, J. S. (2000). An interactive web-based Pseudomonas aeruginosa genome database: discovery of new genes, pathways and structures. Microbiology 146: 2351-2364 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Santagati, M., Iannelli, F., Oggioni, M. R., Stefani, S., Pozzi, G. (2000). Characterization of a Genetic Element Carrying the Macrolide Efflux Gene mef(A) in Streptococcus pneumoniae. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 44: 2585-2587 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Graupner, S., Frey, V., Hashemi, R., Lorenz, M. G., Brandes, G., Wackernagel, W. (2000). Type IV Pilus Genes pilA and pilC of Pseudomonas stutzeri Are Required for Natural Genetic Transformation, and pilA Can Be Replaced by Corresponding Genes from Nontransformable Species. J. Bacteriol. 182: 2184-2190 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • LaPointe, C. F., Taylor, R. K. (2000). The Type 4 Prepilin Peptidases Comprise a Novel Family of Aspartic Acid Proteases. J. Biol. Chem. 275: 1502-1510 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Lee, M. S., Morrison, D. A. (1999). Identification of a New Regulator in Streptococcus pneumoniae Linking Quorum Sensing to Competence for Genetic Transformation. J. Bacteriol. 181: 5004-5016 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Pestova, E., Beyer, R., Cianciotto, N. P., Noskin, G. A., Peterson, L. R. (1999). Contribution of Topoisomerase IV and DNA Gyrase Mutations in Streptococcus pneumoniae to Resistance to Novel Fluoroquinolones. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 43: 2000-2004 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Lee, M. S., Dougherty, B. A., Madeo, A. C., Morrison, D. A. (1999). Construction and Analysis of a Library for Random Insertional Mutagenesis in Streptococcus pneumoniae: Use for Recovery of Mutants Defective in Genetic Transformation and for Identification of Essential Genes. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 65: 1883-1890 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Lee, M. S., Seok, C., Morrison, D. A. (1998). Insertion-Duplication Mutagenesis in Streptococcus pneumoniae: Targeting Fragment Length Is a Critical Parameter in Use as a Random Insertion Tool. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 64: 4796-4802 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Bolotin, A., Wincker, P., Mauger, S., Jaillon, O., Malarme, K., Weissenbach, J., Ehrlich, S. D., Sorokin, A. (2001). The Complete Genome Sequence of the Lactic Acid Bacterium Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis IL1403. Genome Res 11: 731-753 [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article
Right arrow Abstract Freely available
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Pestova, E. V.
Right arrow Articles by Morrison, D. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Pestova, E. V.
Right arrow Articles by Morrison, D. A.

Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»