ABC transporter content diversity in Streptococcus pneumoniae impacts competence regulation and bacteriocin production

Abstract excerpt

Significance The opportunistic pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) participates in horizontal gene transfer through genetic competence and produces antimicrobial peptides called “bacteriocins.” Here, we show that the competence and bacteriocin-related ABC transporters ComAB and BlpAB share the same substrate pool, resulting in bidirectional crosstalk between competence and bacteriocin regulation. We...