Streptococcus pneumoniae: ‘captain of the men of death’ and financial burden: This article is part of the Microbe Profiles collection.

Hasan Yesilkaya; Marco R. Oggioni; Peter W. Andrew

doi:10.1099/mic.0.001275

Volume 168, Issue 12

Review Article

Open Access

Streptococcus pneumoniae: ‘captain of the men of death’ and financial burden

This article is part of the Microbe Profiles collection.

Hasan Yesilkaya¹, Marco R. Oggioni^2,3 and Peter W. Andrew¹
View Affiliations Hide Affiliations

Affiliations: ¹ Department of Respiratory Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK ² Department of Genetics, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK ³ Dipartimento di Farmacia e Biotecnologie, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
*Correspondence: Hasan Yesilkaya, [email protected];[email protected] *Correspondence: Marco R. Oggioni, [email protected] *Correspondence: Peter W. Andrew, [email protected]
Published: 02 December 2022 https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.001275

Abstract

Streptococcus pneumoniae may inhabit the upper respiratory tract of humans without causing harm but it also causes diseases with high morbidity and mortality. It has excellent adaptive capabilities thanks to its ability to shuffle its genetic content by acquiring and incorporating DNA from other bacteria and is highly competent for genetic transformation. Sugar sensing, cleavage and transport ensure its fitness and survival in the host, and intracellular survival in macrophages has been linked to virulence. The polysaccharide capsule and toxin pneumolysin are the most important virulence determinants. Polysaccharide-based vaccines provide protection against the serotypes represented in vaccine formulations.

Received: 27/06/2022
Accepted: 12/11/2022
Published Online: 02/12/2022

Keyword(s): genome , pneumococcal infections , Streptococcus pneumoniae and virulence

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. This article was made open access via a Publish and Read agreement between the Microbiology Society and the corresponding author’s institution.

Article metrics loading...

/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.001275

2022-12-02

2024-04-27

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/micro/168/12/mic001275.html?itemId=/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.001275&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

References

Tettelin H, Masignani V, Cieslewicz MJ, Eisen JA, Peterson S et al. Complete genome sequence and comparative genomic analysis of an emerging human pathogen, serotype V Streptococcus agalactiae. Proc Natl Acad Sci 2002; 99:12391–12396 [View Article]
[Google Scholar]
Belman S, Chaguza C, Kumar N, Lo S, Bentley SD. A new perspective on ancient Mitis group streptococcal genetics. Microb Genom 2022; 8: [View Article] [PubMed]
[Google Scholar]
Donati C, Hiller NL, Tettelin H, Muzzi A, Croucher NJ et al. Structure and dynamics of the pan-genome of Streptococcus pneumoniae and closely related species. Genome Biol 2010; 11:10 [View Article] [PubMed]
[Google Scholar]
Croucher NJ, Harris SR, Fraser C, Quail MA, Burton J et al. Rapid pneumococcal evolution in response to clinical interventions. Science 2011; 331:430–434 [View Article] [PubMed]
[Google Scholar]
Kilian M, Poulsen K, Blomqvist T, Håvarstein LS, Bek-Thomsen M et al. Evolution of Streptococcus pneumoniae and its close commensal relatives. PLOS ONE 2008; 3:e2683 [View Article] [PubMed]
[Google Scholar]
Kapatai G, Sheppard CL, Al-Shahib A, Litt DJ, Underwood AP et al. Whole genome sequencing of Streptococcus pneumoniae: development, evaluation and verification of targets for serogroup and serotype prediction using an automated pipeline. PeerJ 2016; 4:e2477 [View Article] [PubMed]
[Google Scholar]
Ercoli G, Fernandes VE, Chung WY, Wanford JJ, Thomson S et al. Intracellular replication of Streptococcus pneumoniae inside splenic macrophages serves as a reservoir for septicaemia. Nat Microbiol 2018; 3:600–610 [View Article] [PubMed]
[Google Scholar]
Weiser JN, Ferreira DM, Paton JC. Streptococcus pneumoniae: transmission, colonization and invasion. Nat Rev Microbiol 2018; 16:355–367 [View Article] [PubMed]
[Google Scholar]
Hirst RA, Sikand KS, Rutman A, Mitchell TJ, Andrew PW et al. Relative roles of pneumolysin and hydrogen peroxide from Streptococcus pneumoniae in inhibition of ependymal ciliary beat frequency. Infect Immun 2000; 68:1557–1562 [View Article] [PubMed]
[Google Scholar]
Jounblat R, Kadioglu A, Mitchell TJ, Andrew PW. Pneumococcal behavior and host responses during bronchopneumonia are affected differently by the cytolytic and complement-activating activities of pneumolysin. Infect Immun 2003; 71:1813–1819 [View Article] [PubMed]
[Google Scholar]

http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.001275

Volume 168, Issue 12

Review Article

Open Access

Streptococcus pneumoniae: ‘captain of the men of death’ and financial burden

This article is part of the Microbe Profiles collection.

Abstract

Most read this month

Most cited Most Cited RSS feed

Generic Assignments, Strain Histories and Properties of Pure Cultures of Cyanobacteria

Metals, minerals and microbes: geomicrobiology and bioremediation

Quantification of biofilm structures by the novel computer program comstat

Autotrophic growth of anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing micro-organisms in a fluidized bed reactor

Plant-beneficial effects of Trichoderma and of its genes

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindrome repeats (CRISPRs) have spacers of extrachromosomal origin

The ecology, epidemiology and virulence of Enterococcus

Microbe Profile: Pseudomonas aeruginosa: opportunistic pathogen and lab rat

Distribution of Menaquinones in Actinomycetes and Corynebacteria

Quorum sensing and Chromobacterium violaceum: exploitation of violacein production and inhibition for the detection of N-acylhomoserine lactones