AUTHOR=Afzal Muhammad , Shafeeq Sulman , Manzoor Irfan , Henriques-Normark Birgitta , Kuipers Oscar P. 

TITLE=N-acetylglucosamine-Mediated Expression of nagA and nagB in Streptococcus pneumoniae

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

VOLUME=6

YEAR=2016

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cellular-and-infection-microbiology/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2016.00158

DOI=10.3389/fcimb.2016.00158

ISSN=2235-2988

ABSTRACT=<p>In this study, we have explored the transcriptomic response of <italic>Streptococcus pneumoniae</italic> D39 to N-acetylglucosamine (NAG). Transcriptome comparison of <italic>S. pneumoniae</italic> D39 wild-type grown in chemically defined medium (CDM) in the presence of 0.5% NAG to that grown in the presence of 0.5% glucose revealed elevated expression of many genes/operons, including <italic>nagA, nagB, manLMN</italic>, and <italic>nanP</italic>. We have further confirmed the NAG-dependent expression of <italic>nagA, nagB, manLMN</italic>, and <italic>nanP</italic> by β-galactosidase assays. <italic>nagA, nagB</italic> and <italic>glmS</italic> are putatively regulated by a transcriptional regulator NagR. We predicted the operator site of NagR (<italic>dre</italic> site) in P<italic>nagA</italic>, P<italic>nagB</italic>, and P<italic>glmS</italic>, which was further confirmed by mutating the predicted <italic>dre</italic> site in the respective promoters (<italic>nagA, nagB</italic>, and <italic>glmS</italic>). Growth comparison of Δ<italic>nagA</italic>, Δ<italic>nagB</italic>, and Δ<italic>glmS</italic> with the D39 wild-type demonstrates that <italic>nagA</italic> and <italic>nagB</italic> are essential for <italic>S. pneumoniae</italic> D39 to grow in the presence of NAG as a sole carbon source. Furthermore, deletion of <italic>ccpA</italic> shows that CcpA has no effect on the expression of <italic>nagA, nagB</italic>, and <italic>glmS</italic> in the presence of NAG in <italic>S</italic>. <italic>pneumoniae</italic>.</p>