Abstract
The polysaccharide capsule of Streptococcus pneumoniae is the main virulence factor making the bacterium resistant to phagocytosis. The galU gene of S. pneumoniae encodes a UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase absolutely required for capsule biosynthesis. In silico analyses indicated that the galU gene is co-transcribed with the gpdA gene, and four putative promoter regions located upstream of gpdA were predicted. One of them behaved as a functional promoter in a promoter reporter system. It is conceivable that the sequence responsible for initiating transcription of gpdA-galU operon is an extended -10 site TATGATA(T/G)AAT. Semi-quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR experiments indicated that galU was expressed mainly in the exponential phase of growth.
© 2012 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.
Publication types
-
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
MeSH terms
-
Bacterial Proteins / genetics
-
Bacterial Proteins / metabolism
-
Base Sequence
-
Computer Simulation
-
Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial
-
Genes, Bacterial
-
Glycerolphosphate Dehydrogenase / blood
-
Glycerolphosphate Dehydrogenase / genetics
-
Glycerolphosphate Dehydrogenase / metabolism
-
Molecular Sequence Data
-
Promoter Regions, Genetic
-
Sequence Alignment
-
Sequence Analysis, DNA
-
Streptococcus pneumoniae / enzymology
-
Streptococcus pneumoniae / genetics*
-
Streptococcus pneumoniae / metabolism
-
Streptococcus pneumoniae / physiology
-
UTP-Glucose-1-Phosphate Uridylyltransferase / biosynthesis
-
UTP-Glucose-1-Phosphate Uridylyltransferase / genetics*
-
UTP-Glucose-1-Phosphate Uridylyltransferase / metabolism
Substances
-
Bacterial Proteins
-
Glycerolphosphate Dehydrogenase
-
glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (NAD(P)+)
-
UTP-Glucose-1-Phosphate Uridylyltransferase