Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Guiral S
PROVIDER: S-EPMC1150823 | biostudies-other | 2005 Jun
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
Guiral Sébastien S Mitchell Tim J TJ Martin Bernard B Claverys Jean-Pierre JP
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20050531 24
Natural competence for genetic transformation is the best-characterized feature of the major human pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae. Recent studies have shown the virulence of competence-deficient mutants to be attenuated, but the nature of the connection between competence and virulence remained unknown. Here we document the release, triggered by competent cells, of virulence factors (e.g., the cytolytic toxin pneumolysin) from noncompetent cells. This phenomenon, which we name allolysis, invo ...[more]