Morrison D A
University of Illinois at Chicago 60607, USA.
Microb Drug Resist. 1997 Spring;3(1):27-37. doi: 10.1089/mdr.1997.3.27.
Although the capacity for genetic transformation is perhaps the most famous attribute of pneumococcus, use of this genetic phenomenon as a tool for study of the biology of the organism and of its pathogenicity has been largely restricted to a few favored unencapsulated strains, both by the delicacy of the conditions required for development of competence, and by experience that encapsulated strains transformed poorly. We discuss here the recent discovery of a small stable inexpensive peptide pheromone that acts as a quorum-sensing signal and that induces competence under a wide variety of conditions and in encapsulated strains. Its use circumvents some if not all limitations to the expression of transformability in pneumococcus and therefore expands opportunities for application of tools molecular genetics to many strains of pneumococcus without prior genetic manipulation.
尽管遗传转化能力可能是肺炎球菌最著名的特性，但由于感受态发育所需条件的微妙性，以及有经验表明有荚膜菌株转化效果不佳，这种遗传现象作为研究该生物体生物学及其致病性的工具，在很大程度上仅限于少数几种经过挑选的无荚膜菌株。我们在此讨论最近发现的一种小的、稳定的、廉价的肽信息素，它作为一种群体感应信号，能在多种条件下并在有荚膜菌株中诱导感受态。它的使用规避了肺炎球菌中转化能力表达的一些（如果不是全部）限制，因此为在未经预先基因操作的情况下将分子遗传学工具应用于许多肺炎球菌菌株扩展了机会。
