A Single Gene (tts) Located outside the cap Locus Directs the Formation of Streptococcus pneumoniae Type 37 Capsular Polysaccharide: Type 37 Pneumococci Are Natural, Genetically Binary Strains

doi:10.1084/jem.190.2.241

This Article

	Full Text
	Full Text (PDF, 423K)
	PPT slides of all figures
	Alert me when this article is cited
	Citation Map

Services

	Email this article
	Similar articles in this journal
	Similar articles in PubMed
	Alert me to new content in the JEM
	Download to citation manager

Citing Articles

	Citing Articles via HighWire
	Citing Articles via CrossRef
	Citing Articles via Google Scholar

Google Scholar

	Articles by Llull, D.
	Articles by García, E.
	Search for Related Content

PubMed

	PubMed Citation
	Articles by Llull, D.
	Articles by García, E.


Social Bookmarking

	What's this?

© The Rockefeller University Press, 0022-1007/1999/7/241/ $5.00
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, Volume 190, Number 2, July 19, 1999 241-252

Original Article

A Single Gene (tts) Located outside the cap Locus Directs the Formation of Streptococcus pneumoniae Type 37 Capsular Polysaccharide: Type 37 Pneumococci Are Natural, Genetically Binary Strains

Daniel Llull^a, Rosario Muñoz^a, Rubens López^a, and Ernesto García^a

^a From the Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 28006 Madrid, Spain
Departamento de Microbiología Molecular, Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas, Velázquez 144, 28006 Madrid, Spain.34-1-562-751834-1-561-1800

ruben{at}cib.csic.es

The molecular aspects of the type 37 pneumococcal capsular biosynthesis,a homopolysaccharide composed of sophorosyl units (β-D-Glc-(1 $->$ 2)-β-D-Glc)linked by β-1,3 bonds, have been studied. Remarkably, thebiosynthesis of the type 37 capsule is driven by a single gene(tts) located far apart from the cap locus responsible for capsularformation in all of the types characterized to date in Streptococcuspneumoniae. However, a cap37 locus virtually identical to thecap33f cluster has been found in type 37 strains, although someof its genes are inactivated by mutations. The tts gene hasbeen sequenced and its transcription start point determined.Tts shows sequence motifs characteristic of cellulose synthasesand other β-glycosyltransferases. Insertion of the ttsgene into the pneumococcal DNA causes a noticeable genome reorganizationin such a way that genes normally separated by more than 350kb in the chromosome are located together in clinical isolatesof type 37. Encapsulated pneumococcal strains belonging to 10different serotypes (or serogroups) transformed with tts synthesizedtype 37 polysaccharide, leading to the formation of strainsthat display the binary type of capsule. Type 37 pneumococcusconstitutes the first case of a natural, genetically binarystrain and represents a novel alternative to the mechanismsof intertype transformation.

Key Words: binary capsulation • capsule • glucosyltransferase • pneumococcus • sophorose

1used in this paper: aa, amino acid(s); IS, insertion sequence;Ln, lincomycin; ORFs, open reading frames; PFGE, pulsed-fieldgel electrophoresis; p, gene promoter; UDP-Glc, uridine diphosphoglucose

R. Muñoz was the recipient of a Contrato Temporal deInvestigadores from the CSIC, and D. Llull was the recipientof a fellowship from Programa Sectorial de Formaciónde Profesorado Universitario y Personal Investigador (Ministeriode Educación y Cultura). This study was supported bygrant PB96-0809 from the Dirección General de InvestigaciónCientífica y Técnica.

Preliminary sequence data were obtained from The Institute forGenomic Research (TIGR) through the website at http://www.tigr.org.Sequencing of the S. pneumoniae genome was accomplished withsupport from TIGR, the National Institute of Allergy and InfectiousDiseases (NIAID), and the Merck Genome Research Institute (MGRI).

Add to CiteULike CiteULike Add to Complore Complore Add to Connotea Connotea Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us Add to Digg Digg Facebook Add to Reddit Reddit Add to Technorati Technorati Twitter What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

Fernandez de Palencia, P., Werning, M. L., Sierra-Filardi, E., Duenas, M. T., Irastorza, A., Corbi, A. L., Lopez, P. (2009). Probiotic Properties of the 2-Substituted (1,3)-{beta}-D-Glucan-Producing Bacterium Pediococcus parvulus 2.6. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 75: 4887-4891 [Abstract] [Full Text]
Werning, M. L., Corrales, M. A., Prieto, A., de Palencia, P. F., Navas, J., Lopez, P. (2008). Heterologous Expression of a Position 2-Substituted (1->3)-{beta}-D-Glucan in Lactococcus lactis. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 74: 5259-5262 [Abstract] [Full Text]
Aanensen, D. M., Mavroidi, A., Bentley, S. D., Reeves, P. R., Spratt, B. G. (2007). Predicted Functions and Linkage Specificities of the Products of the Streptococcus pneumoniae Capsular Biosynthetic Loci. J. Bacteriol. 189: 7856-7876 [Abstract] [Full Text]
Moscoso, M., Garcia, E., Lopez, R. (2006). Biofilm Formation by Streptococcus pneumoniae: Role of Choline, Extracellular DNA, and Capsular Polysaccharide in Microbial Accretion. J. Bacteriol. 188: 7785-7795 [Abstract] [Full Text]
Llull, D., Veiga, P., Tremblay, J., Kulakauskas, S. (2005). Immobilization-based isolation of capsule-negative mutants of Streptococcus pneumoniae. Microbiology 151: 1911-1917 [Abstract] [Full Text]
McEllistrem, M. C., Noller, A. C., Visweswaran, S., Adams, J. M., Harrison, L. H. (2004). Serotype 14 Variants of the France 9V-3 Clone from Baltimore, Maryland, Can Be Differentiated by the cpsB Gene. J. Clin. Microbiol. 42: 250-256 [Abstract] [Full Text]
Kong, F., Gilbert, G. L. (2003). Using cpsA-cpsB sequence polymorphisms and serotype-/group-specific PCR to predict 51 Streptococcus pneumoniae capsular serotypes. J Med Microbiol 52: 1047-1058 [Abstract] [Full Text]
van Selm, S., van Cann, L. M., Kolkman, M. A. B., van der Zeijst, B. A. M., van Putten, J. P. M. (2003). Genetic Basis for the Structural Difference between Streptococcus pneumoniae Serotype 15B and 15C Capsular Polysaccharides. Infect. Immun. 71: 6192-6198 [Abstract] [Full Text]
Waite, R. D., Penfold, D. W., Struthers, J. K., Dowson, C. G. (2003). Spontaneous sequence duplications within capsule genes cap8E and tts control phase variation in Streptococcus pneumoniae serotypes 8 and 37. Microbiology 149: 497-504 [Abstract] [Full Text]
van Selm, S., Kolkman, M. A. B., van der Zeijst, B. A. M., Zwaagstra, K. A., Gaastra, W., van Putten, J. P. M. (2002). Organization and characterization of the capsule biosynthesis locus of Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 9V. Microbiology 148: 1747-1755 [Abstract] [Full Text]
Jiang, S.-M., Wang, L., Reeves, P. R. (2001). Molecular Characterization of Streptococcus pneumoniae Type 4, 6B, 8, and 18C Capsular Polysaccharide Gene Clusters. Infect. Immun. 69: 1244-1255 [Abstract] [Full Text]
Llull, D., Garcia, E., Lopez, R. (2001). Tts, a Processive beta -Glucosyltransferase of Streptococcus pneumoniae, Directs the Synthesis of the Branched Type 37 Capsular Polysaccharide in Pneumococcus and Other Gram-positive Species. J. Biol. Chem. 276: 21053-21061 [Abstract] [Full Text]
Marks, D. L., Dominguez, M., Wu, K., Pagano, R. E. (2001). Identification of Active Site Residues in Glucosylceramide Synthase. A NUCLEOTIDE-BINDING/CATALYTIC MOTIF CONSERVED WITH PROCESSIVE beta -GLYCOSYLTRANSFERASES. J. Biol. Chem. 276: 26492-26498 [Abstract] [Full Text]