Regulation of competence for genetic transformation in Streptococcus pneumoniae:: a link between quorum sensing and DNA processing genes

Competence for genetic transformation in pneumococcus depends on the coordinated functioning of a dispersed regulon responsible for production of proteins active in DNA binding, uptake, and recombination. This regulon is characterized by a shared noncanonical promoter consensus, TACGAATA, and is capable of 100-fold expression modulations. This review discusses recent evidence that its regulation depends on a novel sigma factor, itself controlled by an autostimulatory quorum sensing system that acts through an extracellular peptide signal. (C) 2000 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.