Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 8, 2026

Live Cell Imaging of Bacillus subtilis and Streptococcus pneumoniae using Automated Time-lapse Microscopy
Published on: July 28, 2011
Transformation in Streptococcus pneumoniae: mosaic genes and the regulation of competence
1University of Kaiserslautern, Department of Microbiology, Germany. hakenb@rhrk.uni-kl.de
Abstract:
The presence of highly divergent mosaic blocks in penicillin binding protein genes responsible for penicillin resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae implies that transformation is an important tool for the evolution of this pathogen. Genetic competence depends on production of the competence signaling peptide CSP, the processed product of comC, which is curiously part of a mosaic gene arrangement itself. Expression of comC is part of a complex regulatory network involving at least two receptor kinase/transcriptional regulator pairs: ComD/E, which is responsible for induction, and CiaH/R, which inhibits expression of the comCDE operon.
Related Concept Videos
Bacterial Transformation
Coordination of Gene Expression Processes in Bacteria
Gene Regulation in Microbial Communities: Quorum Sensing
Gene Regulation During Sporulation
Transformation
Regulation of Bacterial Virulence

