ArticleMolecular microbiology2015
A unique open reading frame within the comX gene of Streptococcus mutans regulates genetic competence and oxidative stress tolerance.
Article in Molecular microbiology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers.
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Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed.
- Within-host bacterial evolution and the emergence of pathogenicity.Nature microbiology · 2025Review
- Transcriptomic response in planktonic and biofilm-associated cells of Streptococcus mutans treated with sublethal concentrations of chlorhexidine.FEMS microbiology letters · 2025Article
- Streptococcal peptides and their roles in host-microbe interactions.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2023Review
- Modulating streptococcal phenotypes using signal peptide analogues.Open biology · 2022Review
- Clp ATPases differentially affect natural competence development in Streptococcus mutans.MicrobiologyOpen · 2022Article
- Competence shut-off by intracellular pheromone degradation in salivarius streptococci.PLoS genetics · 2022Article
- Article
- Direct interactions with commensal streptococci modify intercellular communication behaviors of Streptococcus mutans.The ISME journal · 2021Article
- Peptides encoded in theMicrobiology (Reading, England) · 2020Article
- Spontaneously Arising Streptococcus mutans Variants with Reduced Susceptibility to Chlorhexidine Display Genetic Defects and Diminished Fitness.Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy · 2019Article
- Expanding the Vocabulary of Peptide Signals inFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2019Review
- The conserved mosaic prophage protein paratox inhibits the natural competence regulator ComR in Streptococcus.Scientific reports · 2018Article
- Competence inhibition by the XrpA peptide encoded within the comX gene of Streptococcus mutans.Molecular microbiology · 2018Article
- The State of the Union Is Strong: a Review of ASM's 6th Conference on Cell-Cell Communication in Bacteria.Journal of bacteriology · 2018Review
- Genome-Wide Screens Reveal New Gene Products That Influence Genetic Competence in Streptococcus mutans.Journal of bacteriology · 2018Article
- Hidden Gems in the Transcriptome Maps of Competent Streptococci.Frontiers in molecular biosciences · 2018Article
- Intercellular Communication via theJournal of bacteriology · 2017Article
- Remodeling of the Streptococcus mutans proteome in response to LrgAB and external stresses.Scientific reports · 2017Article
- Effects of Arginine on Streptococcus mutans Growth, Virulence Gene Expression, and Stress Tolerance.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2017Article
- Inactivation of the spxA1 or spxA2 gene of Streptococcus mutans decreases virulence in the rat caries model.Molecular oral microbiology · 2017Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Streptococcus mutans displays complex regulation of genetic competence, with ComX controlling late competence gene transcription. The rcrRPQ operon has been shown to link oxidative stress tolerance, (p)ppGpp metabolism and competence in S. mutans. Importantly, an rcrR polar (ΔrcrR-P) mutant is hyper-transformable, but an rcrR non-polar (ΔrcrR-NP) mutant cannot be transformed. Transcriptome comparisons of the rcrR mutants using RNA-Seq and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction revealed little expression in the 5' region of comX in ΔrcrR-NP, but high level expression in the 3' region. Northern blotting with comX probes revealed two distinct transcripts in the ΔrcrR-P and ΔrcrR-NP strains, and 5' Rapid Amplification of cDNA Ends mapped the 5' terminus of the shorter transcript to nt +140 of the comX structural gene, where a unique 69-aa open reading frame, termed XrpA, was encoded in a different reading frame than ComX. Two single-nucleotide substitution mutants (comX::T162C; comX::T210A) were introduced to disrupt XrpA without affecting the sequence of ComX. When the mutations were in the ΔrcrR-NP genetic background, ComX production and transformation were restored. Overexpression of xrpA led to impaired growth in aerobic conditions and decreased transformability. These results reveal an unprecedented mechanism for competence regulation and stress tolerance by a gene product encoded within the comX gene that appears unique to S. mutans.
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