Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Diplococcus pneumoniae

  • Chapter
Bacteria, Bacteriophages, and Fungi

  • 751 Accesses

Abstract

The bacterium Diplococcus pneumoniae was first described less than a century ago. Following its discovery in 1881 by both Pasteur and Sternberg and the demonstration by Fraenkel and Weichselbaum five years later that the Pneumococcus was the causative agent of lobar pneumonia in man, interest in this organism had centered on its pathogenic properties and on the defense of the host against them (Breed et al., 1957). Griffith’s work on pneumococcal transformations (Griffith, 1928) led to the discovery that the chemical nature of the genetic material for all cellular forms of life is deoxyribonucleate. The classic study of Avery, MacLeod, and McCarty on the nature of the substance inducing transformation of pneumococcal types was published in 1944, and it marked the beginning of modern genetics and of molecular biology.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Literature Cited

  • Auerbach-Rubin, F. and E. Ottolenghi-Nightingale, 1971 Effect of ethanol on the clearance of airborne pneumococci and the rate of pneumococcal transformations in the lung. Infect. Immun. 3:688–693.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Austrian, R., 1952 Observations on the transformation of Pneumococcus in vivo. Bull. Johns Hopkins Hosp. 91:189–196.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Austrian, R., 1953 Morphologic variation in Pneumococcus. II. Control of pneumococcal morphology through transformation reactions. J. Exp. Med. 98:35–40.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Austrian, R. and M. S. Colowick, 1953 Modification of the fermentative activities of Pneumococcus through transformation reactions. Bull. Johns Hopkins Hosp. 92:375–384.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Austrian, R. and C. M. MacLeod, 1949 Acquisition of M-protein by pneumococci through transformation reactions. J. Exp. Med. 89:451–460.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Austrian, R., H. P. Bernheimer, E. E. B. Smith and G. T. Mills, 1959 Simultaneous production of two capsular polysaccharides by Pneumococcus, II. The genetic and biochemical bases of binary capsulation. J. Exp. Med. 110:585–602.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Avery, O. T., C. M. MacLeod and M. McCarty, 1944 Studies on the chemical nature of the substance inducing transformation of pneumococcal types. J. Exp. Med. 79:137–157.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bracco, R. M., M. R. Krauss, A. S. Roe and C. M. MacLeod, 1957 Transformation reactions between Pneumococcus and three strains of Streptococcus. J. Exp. Med. 106:247–259.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Braun, W., 1965 Bacterial Genetics, second edition, pp. 239–262. W. B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia, Pa.

    Google Scholar 

  • Breed, R. S., E. G. D. Murray and N. R. Smith, 1957 Sergey’s Manual of Determinative Bacteriology, seventh edition, pp. 507–508. Williams and Wilkins Company, Baltimore, Md.

    Google Scholar 

  • Briles, E. B. and A. Tomasz, 1970 Radioautographic evidence for equatorial wall growth in a Gram-positive bacterium. Segregation of choline-3H-labeled teichoic acid. J. Cell Biol. 47:786–790.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bryan, B. E., 1961 Genetic modifiers of streptomycin resistance in Pneumococcus. J. Bacteriol. 82:461–470.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Butler, L. O., 1970 The transformation of both recipient strands of pneumococcal DNA. J. Gen. Microbiol. 61:137–140.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Butler, L. O. and G. Nicholas, 1973 Mapping of the Pneumococcus chromosome. Linkage between the genes conferring resistances to erythromycin and tetracycline and its implication to the replication of the chromosome. J. Gen. Microbiol. 79:31–44.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Butler, L. O. and M. B. Smiley, 1970 Characterization by transformation of an ampicillin-resistant mutant of Pneumococcus. J. Gen. Microbiol. 61:189–195.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Butler, L. O. and M. B. Smiley, 1973 Mapping of the Pneumococcus chromosome: Application of the density-shift method. J. Gen. Microbiol. 76:101:113.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cato, A., Jr. and W. R. Guild, 1968 Transformation and DNA size, I. Activity of fragments of defined size and a fit to a random double cross-over model. J. Mol. Biol. 37:157–178.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Conant, E. and W. D. Sawyer, 1967 Transformation during mixed pneumococcal infection of mice. J. Bacteriol. 93:1869–1875.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cutler, R. G. and J. E. Evans, 1966 Synchronization of bacteria by a stationary-phase method. J. Bacteriol. 91:469–476.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Davis, B. D., R. Dulbecco, H. N. Eisen, H. S. Ginsberg and W. B. Wood, Jr., 1967 Microbiology, pp. 184–190 and 683-700, Hoeber Medical Division, Harper and Row, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Doty, P., 1959-1960 Inside nucleic acids. Harvey Lect. 55:103–139.

    Google Scholar 

  • Drew, R. M., 1957 Induction of resistance to A-methopterin in Diplococcus pneumoniae by deoxyribonucleic acid. Nature (Lond.) 179:1251–1252.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dubos, R. J., 1937 Mechanism of the lysis of pneumococci by freezing and thawing, bile, and other agents. J. Exp. Med. 66:101–112.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dubos, R. J., 1949 The Bacterial Cell, pp. 135–143. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ephrussi-Taylor, H. E., 1951 Transformations allogènes du pneumocoque. Exp. Cell Res. 2:589–607.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ephrussi-Taylor, H. E., 1954 A new transforming agent determining pattern of metabolism and glucose and lactic acids in Pneumococcus. Exp. Cell Res. 6:94–116.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ephrussi-Taylor, H. E., 1957 X-ray inactivation studies on solutions of transforming DNA from Pneumococcus. In The Chemical Basis of Heredity, edited by W. D. McElroy and B. Glass, pp. 299–320, Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ephrussi-Taylor, H. E., 1958 The mechanism of desoxyribonucleic acid-induced transformations. In Recent Progress in Microbiology, edited by G. Tunevall, pp. 51–68, C. C. Thomas, Springfield, Ill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ghei, O. K. and S. Lacks, 1967 Recovery of donor deoxyribonucleic acid marker activity from eclipse in pneumococcal transformation. J. Bacteriol. 93:816–829.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Goodgal, S. H. and R. M. Herriott, 1957 Studies on transformation of Haemophilus in-fluenzae. In The Chemical Basis of Heredity, edited by W. D. McElroy and B. Glass, pp. 336–340, The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, Md.

    Google Scholar 

  • Green, D. McD., 1959 A host-specific variation affecting relative frequency of transformation of two markers in Pneumococcus. Exp. Cell Res. 18:466–480.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Griffith, F., 1928 The significance of pneumococcal types. J. Hyg. 27:113–159.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hayes, W., 1968 The Genetics of Bacteria and their Viruses, pp. 574–619, John Wiley & Sons, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hotchkiss, R. D., 1951 Transfer of penicillin resistance in pneumococci by the deoxyribonucleate derived from resistant cultures. Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quant. Biol. 16:457–460.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hotchkiss, R. D., 1954 Cyclical behavior in pneumococcal growth and transformability occasioned by environmental changes. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 40:49–55.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hotchkiss, R. D., 1957 Criteria for quantitative genetic transformation of bacteria. In The Chemical Basis of Heredity, edited by W. D. McElroy and B. Glass, pp. 321–335, The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, Md.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hotchkiss, R. D., 1971 Toward a general theory of genetic recombination in DNA. Adv. Genet. 16:325–348.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hotchkiss, R. D. and A. H. Evans, 1958 Analysis of the complex sulfonamide resistance locus of Pneumococcus. Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quant. Biol. 23:85–97.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hotchkiss, R. D. and M. Gabor, 1970 Bacterial transformation, with special reference to recombination process. Annu. Rev. Genet. 4:193–224.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hotchkiss, R. D. and J. Marmur, 1954 Double marker transformations as evidence of linked factors in desoxyribonucleate transforming agents. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 40:55–60.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hotchkiss, R. D. and E. Weiss, 1956 Transformed bacteria. Sci. Am. Nov.:30–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hotchkiss, R. D., M. Abe and D. Lane, 1971 Transfer of heterozygotic properties by DNA in Pneumococcus. In Informative Molecules in Biological Systems, edited by L. G. H. Ledoux, North-Holland/American-Elsevier Publishing Co., New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Iyer, V. N. and A. W. Ravin, 1962 Integration and expression of different lengths of DNA during the transformation of Pneumococcus to erythromycin resistance. Genetics 47:1355–1368.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, S., C. M. MacLeod and M. R. Krauss, 1959 Determination of type in capsulated transformants of Pneumococcus by the genome of non-capsulated donor and recipient strains. J. Exp. Med. 109:429–438.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kent, J. L. and R. D. Hotchkiss, 1964 Kinetic analysis of multiple, linked recombinations in pneumococcal transformation. J. Mol. Biol. 9:308–322.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Krauss, M. R. and C. M. MacLeod, 1963 Intraspecies and interspecies transformation reactions in Pneumococcus and Streptococcus. J. Gen. Physiol. 46:1141–1150.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lacks, S., 1962 Molecular fate of DNA in genetic transformation of Pneumococcus. J. Mol. Biol. 5:119–131.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lacks, S., 1966 Integration efficiency and genetic recombination in pneumococcal transformation. Genetics 53:207–235.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lacks, S., 1968 Transformation and DNA size. II. Theoretical relationship between probability of marker integration and length of donor DNA in pneumococcal transformation. J. Mol. Biol. 37:179–180.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lacks, S., 1970 Mutants of Diplococcus pneumoniae that lack deoxyribonucleases and other activities possibly pertinent to genetic transformation. J. Bacteriol. 101:373–383.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lacks, S. and R. D. Hotchkiss, 1960 A study of the genetic material determining an enzyme activity in Pneumococcus. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 39:508–518.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lerman, L. S., and L. J. Tolmach, 1959 Genetic transformation, II. The significance of damage to the DNA molecule. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 33:371–387.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Litt, M., J. Marmur, H. E. Ephrussi-Taylor and P. Doty, 1958 The dependence of pneumococcal transformation on the molecular weight of deoxyribose nucleic acid. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 44:144–152.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Louarn, J-M. and A. M. Sicard, 1969 Identical transformability of both strands of recipient DNA in Diplococcus pneumoniae. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 36:101–109.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • MacLeod, C. M., 1965 The Pneumococci. In Bacterial and Mycotic Infections of Man, edited by R. J. Dubos and J. G. Hirsch, fourth edition, pp. 391–411, J. B. Lippincott, Philadelphia, Pa.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marmur, J. and R. D. Hotchkiss, 1955 Mannitol metabolism, a transferable property of Pneumococcus. J. Biol. Chem. 214:383–396.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Marmur, J. and D. Lane, 1960 Strand separation and specific recombination in deoxyribonucleic acids: biological studies. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 46:453–461.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Marmur, J., S. Falkow and M. Mandel, 1963 New approaches to bacterial taxonomy. Annu. Rev. Microbiol. 17:329–372.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mehta, B. M. and D. J. Hutchison, 1970 Nucleic acid homology as a measure of genetic compatibility among streptococci and a strain of Diplococcus pneumoniae. Can. J. Microbiol. 16:281–286.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Meynell, G. G. and E. Meynell, 1965 Theory and Practice in Experimental Bacteriology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mills, G. T. and E. E. B. Smith, 1962 Biosynthetic aspects of capsule formation in the Pneumococcus. Br. Med. Bull. 18:27–30.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mindich, L., 1966 Bacteriocins of Diplococcus pneumoniae. J. Bacteriol. 92:1090–1098.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ottolenghi-Nightingale, E., 1969 Spontaneously occurring bacterial transformations in mice. J. Bacteriol. 100:445–452.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ottolenghi-Nightingale, E., 1972 Competence of pneumococcal isolates and bacterial transformations in man. Infect. Immun. 6:785–792.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ottolenghi, E. and R. D. Hotchkiss, 1962 Release of genetic transforming agent from pneumococcal cultures during growth and disintegration. J. Exp. Med. 116:491–519.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ottolenghi, E. and C. M. MacLeod, 1963 Genetic transformation among living pneumococci in the mouse. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 50:417–419.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pakula, R., E. Hulanicka and W. Walczak, 1958 Transformation between streptococci, pneumococci, and staphylococci. Bull. Acad. Polon. Sci. Ser. Sci. Biol. Classe (II) 6:325–328.

    Google Scholar 

  • Percival, A., E. C. Armstrong and G. C. Turner, 1969 Increased incidence of tetracycline-resistant pneumococci in Liverpool in 1968. Lancet 1:998–1000.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rappaport, H. P. and W. R. Guild, 1959 Defined medium for growth of two transformable strains of Diplococcus pneumoniae. J. Bacteriol. 78:203–205.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ravin, A. W., 1959 Reciprocal capsular transformations of pneumococci. J. Bacteriol. 77:296–309.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ravin, A. W., 1960a The origin of bacterial species. Bacteriol. Rev. 24:201–220.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ravin, A. W., 1960b Linked mutations borne by deoxyribonucleic acid controlling the synthesis of capsular polysaccharide in Pneumococcus. Genetics 45:1387–1404.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ravin, A. W., 1961 The genetics of transformation. Adv. Genet. 10:61–163.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ravin, A. W. and K. C. Chen, 1967 Heterospecific transformation of Pneumococcus and Streptococcus. III. Reduction of linkage. Genetics 57:851–864.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ravin, A. W. and V. N. Iyer, 1961 The genetic relationship and phenotypic expression of mutations endowing Pneumococcus with resistance to erythromycin. J. Gen. Microbiol 66:1–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roger, M. and R. D. Hotchkiss, 1961 Selective heat inactivation of pneumococcal transforming deoxyribonucleate. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 47:653–669.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rotheim, M. B. and A. W. Ravin, 1961 The mapping of genetic loci affecting streptomycin resistance in Pneumococcus. Genetics 46:1619–1634.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rotheim, M. B. and A. W. Ravin, 1964 Sites of breakage in the DNA molecule as determined by recombination analysis of streptomycin-resistance mutations in Pneumococcus. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 52:30–38.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schaeffer, P. 1956 Analyse génétique de la résistance à la streptomycine chez le pneumocoque. Ann. Inst. Pasteur 91:323–337.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schaeffer, P., 1964 Transformation. In The Bacteria. Vol. 5: Heredity, pp. 87–153, Academic Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shockley, T. E. and R. D. Hotchkiss, 1970 Stepwise introduction of transformable penicillin resistance in Pneumococcus. Genetics 64:397–408.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shumway, C. N. and S. J. Klebanoff, 1971 Purification of pneumolysin. Infect. Immun. 4:388–392.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sicard, A. M., 1964 A new synthetic medium for Diplococcus pneumoniae and its use for the study of reciprocal transformation at the ami-A locus. Genetics 50:31–44.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sicard, A. M. and H. E. Ephrussi-Taylor, 1965 Genetic recombination in DNA-induced transformation of Pneumococcus, II. Mapping the ami-A region. Genetics 52:1207–1227.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sirotnak, F. M., R. Lunt and D. J. Hutchison, 1960a Genetic studies on amethopterin resistance in Diplococcus pneumoniae. J. Bacteriol. 80:648–653.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sirotnak, F. M., R. Lunt and D. J. Hutchison, 1960b Transformation of resistance to 8-azaguanine in Diplococcus pneumoniae. Nature (Lond.) 187:800–801.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Spizizen, J., B. E. Reilly and A. H. Evans, 1966 Microbial transformation and transfection. Annu. Rev. Microbiol. 20:371–400.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, H. E., 1949 Transformations réciproques des formes R et ER chez le pneumocoque. C. R. Hebd. Seances Acad. Sci. Ser. D. Sci. Nat. 228:1258–1259.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tomasz, A., 1968 Biological consequences of the replacement of choline by ethanolamine in the cell wall of Pneumococcus: chain formation, loss of transformability and loss of autolysis. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 59:86–93.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tomasz, A., 1969 Some aspects of the competent state in genetic transformation. Annu. Rev. Genet. 3:217–232.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tomasz, A., 1971 Cell physiological aspects of DNA uptake during genetic transformation in bacteria. In Informative Macromolecules in Biological Systems, pp. 4–18, North-Holland/American-Elsevier Publishing Co., New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tomasz, A., J. D. Jamieson and E. Ottolenghi, 1964 The fine structure of Diplococcus pneumoniae. J. Cell Biol. 22:453–467.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Udaka, S., J. Koukol and R. Vennesland, 1959 Lactic oxidase of Pneumococcus. J. Bacteriol. 78:714–725.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • White, B., 1938 The Biology of the Pneumococcus, The Commonwealth Fund, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, G. S. and A. A. Miles, 1964 Topley and Wilson’s Principles of Bacteriology and Immunity, Vol. 1, pp. 737–738, fifth edition, Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, Md.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yurchak, A. M. and R. Austrian, 1966 Serologic and genetic relationships between pneumococci and other respiratory streptococci. Trans. Assoc. Am. Physicians Phila. 79:368–375.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University Affiliated Center for Child Development, Georgetown University Hospital, Washington D.C., USA

    Elena Ottolenghi-Nightingale

Authors
  1. Elena Ottolenghi-Nightingale
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA

    Robert C. King (Professor of Genetics) (Professor of Genetics)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1974 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Ottolenghi-Nightingale, E. (1974). Diplococcus pneumoniae. In: King, R.C. (eds) Bacteria, Bacteriophages, and Fungi. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1710-2_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1710-2_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4899-1712-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-1710-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation