The galU gene expression in Streptococcus pneumoniae

BONOFIGLIO L; GARCÍA E; MOLLERACH M

FEMS MICROBIOLOGY LETTERS

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2012 vol. 332 p. 47 - 53

0378-1097

The polysaccharide capsule of Streptococcus pneumoniae is the main virulence factor making the bacterium resistant to phagocytosis. The galU gene of Streptococcus pneumoniae encodes a UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase absolutely required for capsule biosynthesis. In silico analyses indicated that galU gene is co-transcribed with the gpdA gene and four putative promoter regions located upstream 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. Semiquantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR experiments indicated that galU was expressed mainly in the exponential phase of growth.