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Capsule Homology Does Not Increase the Frequency of Transformation of Linked Penicillin Binding Proteins PBP 1a and PBP 2x in Streptococcus pneumoniae

Krzysztof Trzciski,^1,* Adam MacNeil,^1, Keith P. Klugman,² and Marc Lipsitch¹

Departments of Epidemiology and Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts,¹ Department of International Health, The Rollins School of Public Health and Division of Infectious Diseases, School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia²

Received 28 September 2004/ Returned for modification 28 November 2004/ Accepted 21 December 2004

Penicillin resistance is mainly confined to a limited number of Streptococcus pneumoniae serotypes. Given linkage between the capsular biosynthesis locus and two penicillin binding proteins, we tested whether capsule homology increases transformation rates of penicillin resistance. Transformation rates in homologous donor-recipient pairs were no higher than expected, falsifying this hypothesis.

K.T. and A.M. contributed equally to this study.