Background Carriage of and infection with Streptococcus pneumoniae is known to predominantly induce T helper 17 (Th17) responses in humans, but the types of Th cells showing reactivity towards commensal streptococci with ...

The competence-stimulating peptide (CSP) and the sigX-inducing peptide (XIP) are known to induce Streptococcus mutans competence for genetic transformation. For both pheromones, direct identification of the native peptides ...

The discovery that Streptococcus pneumoniae uses a competence-stimulating peptide (CSP) to induce competence for natural transformation, and that other species of the mitis and the anginosus streptococcal groups use a ...

Selective markers employed in classical mutagenesis methods using natural genetic transformation can affect gene expression, risk phenotypic effects, and accumulate as unwanted genes during successive mutagenesis cycles. ...

Objective: Streptococcus mitis is a predominant oral colonizer, but difficulties in genetic manipulation of this species have hampered our understanding of the mechanisms it uses for colonization of oral surfaces. The aim ...

In Streptococcus mutans, an oral colonizer associated with dental caries, development of competence for natural genetic transformation is triggered by either of two types of peptide pheromones, competence-stimulating ...

Despite vaccines, Streptococcus pneumoniae kills more than a million people yearly. Thus, understanding how pneumococci transition from commensals to pathogens is particularly relevant. Quorum sensing regulates collective ...

Naturally acquired immunity against invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) is thought to be dependent on anti-capsular antibody. However nasopharyngeal colonisation by Streptococcus pneumoniae also induces antibody to protein ...

Here we show that mouse IgG2a and IgG1 antibodies specific for the commensal Streptococcus mitis cross-react with pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae serotypes 2 and 4, although the cross-reactivity conferred by IgG2a is ...

A diverse community of trillions of commensal bacteria inhabits mucosal and epidermal surfaces in humans and plays an important role in defense against pathogens, including respiratory pathogens. Commensal bacteria act on ...