Streptococcus pneumoniae is a frequent colonizer of the human nasopharynx that has the
potential to cause severe infections such as pneumonia, bacteremia and meningitis. Despite …

Streptococcus pneumoniae (the pneumococcus) is an important human pathogen. Natural
genetic transformation, which was discovered in this species, involves internalization of …

The ability of pneumococci to take up naked DNA from the environment and permanently
incorporate the DNA into their genome by recombination has been exploited as a valuable …

The genus Streptococcus contains 104 recognized species, many of which are associated
with human or animal hosts. A globally prevalent human pathogen in this group is …

The naturally transformable bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae is able to take up
extracellular DNA and incorporate it into its genome. Maintaining natural transformation …

Competence for genetic transformation is a differentiation program during which exogenous
DNA is imported into the cell and integrated into the chromosome. In Streptococcus …

Despite the fact that natural transformation was described long ago in Streptococcus
pneumoniae, only a limited number of recombination genes have been identified. Two of …

Horizontal gene transfer mediated by the competence regulon is a major driver of genome
plasticity in Streptococcus pneumoniae. When pneumococcal cells enter the competent …

Streptococcus pneumoniae remains one of the major pathogens in children and adults
worldwide. In addition to the 100 000 000 ear infections in children, it is estimated that it is …

Transformation is an important mechanism of microbial evolution through which bacteria
have been observed to rapidly adapt in response to clinical interventions; examples include …