A bacterium that causes pneumonia and other ailments can switch between six different forms by rearranging key genes, allowing the microbe to alter its ability to infect.
Streptococcus pneumoniae (pictured) lives harmlessly in the nose but can cause serious infections in some people. Michael Jennings at Griffith University in Southport, Australia, Marco Oggioni at the University of Leicester, UK, and their co-workers focused on a specific set of genes comprising a system called SpnD39III in a strain of S. pneumoniae. They found that rearrangements of these genes result in six distinct bacterial subpopulations, each with its own pattern of methyl groups on DNA, which modify gene expression.
The subpopulations caused infections of varying severity in mice.
The finding suggests how this pathogen can quickly adapt to changing environments, such as when it shifts from harmless colonization to invasive disease.
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Gene switch helps bacteria invade. Nature 514, 143 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/514143d
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/514143d
