title: Unconventional organization of the division and cell wall gene cluster of Streptococcus pneumoniae.
abstract: The genes responsible for cell wall biosynthesis and cell division (dcw genes) were identified and sequenced in Streptococcus pneumoniae. The genetic organization of the dcw cluster in Streptococcus pneumoniae differed significantly from the clusters of other bacteria reported to date. In particular, the genes corresponding to the 2 min region of the Escherichia coli chromosome were found distributed in three genetically separate regions of the Streptococcus pneumoniae chromosome. The first region contained the expected ftsA and ftsZ cell division genes at one end and pbp2b, ddl and murF at the other end. The murD, murG and divIB genes, always found located upstream of ftsA, were found in a second region separated from the first. A third region contained the yllC, yllD, pbp2x and mraY genes. The chromosomal region downstream of ftsZ was also sequenced and characterized. In Streptococcus pneumoniae this region contains four ORFs, all of unknown function, and an ORF encoding the Bacillus subtilis DivIVA homologue. The gene order and the organization of this region was found to be conserved in Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes and Bacillus subtilis, raising the possibility that previously unidentified loci may also be involved in division.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Medicine Research Center,GlaxoWellcome,37100 Verona,Italy.
authors.forename: Orietta
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Massidda
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Medicine Research Center,GlaxoWellcome,37100 Verona,Italy.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Anderluzzi
authors.affiliation: Geneva Biomedical Research InstitUte,GlaxoWellcome, 14 Chemin des Aulx, CH-1228 Plans-les-Ouates, Geneva,Switzerland.
authors.forename: Laurence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Friedli
authors.affiliation: Geneva Biomedical Research InstitUte,GlaxoWellcome, 14 Chemin des Aulx, CH-1228 Plans-les-Ouates, Geneva,Switzerland.
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Feger
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D002455:Cell Division / Q000235:genetics; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D011008:Pneumococcal Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000235:genetics; D013296:Streptococcus pneumoniae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins