title: Regulation of competence for genetic transformation in Streptococcus pneumoniae: a link between quorum sensing and DNA processing genes.
abstract: Competence for genetic transformation in pneumococcus depends on the coordinated functioning of a dispersed regulon responsible for production of proteins active in DNA binding, uptake, and recombination. This regulon is characterized by a shared noncanonical promoter consensus, TACGAATA, and is capable of 100-fold expression modulations. This review discusses recent evidence that its regulation depends on a novel sigma factor, itself controlled by an autostimulatory quorum sensing system that acts through an extracellular peptide signal.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA. damorris@uic.edu
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Morrison
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D001483:Base Sequence; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases / Q000737:chemistry; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D020131:Genes, Duplicate; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D018085:Regulon; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013296:Streptococcus pneumoniae / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D014169:Transformation, Bacterial
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C061262:ComA protein, Bacteria; C120829:ComX protein, Streptococcus; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases