| Streptococcus pneumoniae |
|
| S. pneumoniae in spinal fluid. FA stain (digitally colored). |
| Scientific classification |
| Domain: |
Bacteria |
| Phylum: |
Firmicutes |
| Class: |
Bacilli |
| Order: |
Lactobacillales |
| Family: |
Streptococcaceae |
| Genus: |
Streptococcus |
| Species: |
S. pneumoniae |
| Binomial name |
Streptococcus pneumoniae
(Klein 1884)
Chester 1901 |
Streptococcus pneumoniae, or pneumococcus, is a Gram-positive, alpha-hemolytic, aerotolerant, aerobic member of the genus Streptococcus.[1] A significant human pathogenic bacterium, S. pneumoniae was recognized as a major cause of pneumonia in the late 19th century, and is the subject of many humoral immunity studies.
S. pneumoniae resides asymptomatically in the nasopharynx of healthy carriers. However, in susceptible individuals, such as elderly and immunocompromised people and children, the bacterium may become pathogenic, spread to other locations and cause disease. S. pneumoniae is the main cause of community acquired pneumonia and meningitis in children and the elderly, and of septicemia in HIV-infected persons.
Despite the name, the organism causes many types of pneumococcal infections other than pneumonia. These invasive pneumococcal diseases include bronchitis, acute sinusitis, otitis media, conjunctivitis, meningitis, bacteremia, sepsis, osteomyelitis, septic arthritis, endocarditis, peritonitis, pericarditis, cellulitis, and brain abscess.[2]
S. pneumoniae is one of the most common causes of bacterial meningitis in adults and young adults, along with Neisseria meningitidis, and is the leading cause of bacterial meningitis in adults in the USA. It is also one of the top two isolates found in ear infection, otitis media.[3] Pneumococcal pneumonia is more common in the very young and the very old.
S. pneumoniae can be differentiated from Streptococcus viridans, some of which are also alpha-hemolytic, using an optochin test, as S. pneumoniae is optochin-sensitive. S. pneumoniae can also be distinguished based on its sensitivity to lysis by bile, the so-called "bile solubility test". The encapsulated, Gram-positive coccoid bacteria have a distinctive morphology on Gram stain, lancet-shaped diplococci. They have a polysaccharide capsule that acts as a virulence factor for the organism; more than 90 different serotypes are known, and these types differ in virulence, prevalence, and extent of drug resistance.
Contents
- 1 History
- 2 Genetics
- 3 Transformation in S. pneumoniae
- 4 Infection
- 5 Vaccine
- 6 Interaction with Haemophilus influenzae
- 7 Diagnosis
- 8 See also
- 9 References
- 10 External links
History
In 1881, the organism, known as the pneumococcus for its role as an etiologic agent of pneumonia, was first isolated simultaneously and independently by the U.S. Army physician George Sternberg[4] and the French chemist Louis Pasteur.[5]
The organism was termed Diplococcus pneumoniae from 1920[6] because of its characteristic appearance in Gram-stained sputum. It was renamed Streptococcus pneumoniae in 1974 because of its growth in chains in liquid growth media.
S. pneumoniae played a central role in demonstrating genetic material consists of DNA. In 1928, Frederick Griffith demonstrated transformation of life, turning harmless pneumococcus into a lethal form by co-inoculating the live pneumococci into a mouse along with heat-killed, virulent pneumococci. In 1944, Oswald Avery, Colin MacLeod, and Maclyn McCarty demonstrated the transforming factor in Griffith's experiment was DNA, not protein, as was widely believed at the time.[7] Avery's work marked the birth of the molecular era of genetics.[8]
Genetics
The genome of S. pneumoniae is a closed, circular DNA structure that contains between 2.0 and 2.1 million base pairs, depending on the strain. It has a core set of 1553 genes, plus 154 genes in its virulome, which contribute to virulence, and 176 genes that maintain a noninvasive phenotype. Genetic information can vary up to 10% between strains.[9]
Transformation in S. pneumoniae
Natural bacterial transformation involves the transfer of DNA from one bacterium to another through the surrounding medium. Transformation is a complex, developmental process requiring energy, dependent on expression of numerous genes. In S. pneumoniae at least 23 genes are required. In order for a bacterium to bind, take up and recombine exogenous DNA into its chromosome it must enter a special physiological state, called competence.
Competence, in S. pneumoniae, is induced by DNA-damaging agents such as mitomycin C, a DNA inter-strand cross-linking agent, and the fluoroquinolone antibiotics norfloxacin, levofloxacin and moxifloxacin, topoisomerase inhibitors that cause double-strand breaks.[10] Transformation protects S. pneumoniae against the bactericidal effect of mitomycin C.[11] Michod et al.[12] summarized evidence that induction of competence in S. pneumoniae is associated with increased resistance to oxidative stress and increased expression of the RecA protein, a key component of the recombinational repair machinery for removing DNA damages. On the basis of these findings, they suggested that transformation is an adaptation for repairing oxidative DNA damages. S. pneumoniae infection stimulates polymorphonuclear leukocytes (granulocyte) to produce an oxidative burst that is potentially lethal to the bacteria. The ability of S. pneumoniae to repair the oxidative DNA damages in its genome, caused by this host defense, likely contributes to this pathogen’s virulence.
Infection
Main article: Pneumococcal infection
S. pneumoniae is part of the normal upper respiratory tract flora, but, as with many natural flora, it can become pathogenic under the right conditions, like if the immune system of the host is suppressed. Invasins, such as pneumolysin, an anti-phagocytic capsule, various adhesins and immunogenic cell wall components are all major virulence factors.
Vaccine
Main article: Pneumococcal vaccine
Interaction with Haemophilus influenzae
Both Haemophilus influenzae (H. influenzae) and S. pneumoniae can be found in the human upper respiratory system. A study of competition in vitro revealed S. pneumoniae overpowered H. influenzae by attacking it with hydrogen peroxide.[13]
When both bacteria are placed together into the nasal cavity of a mouse, within 2 weeks, only H. influenzae survives. When both are placed separately into a nasal cavity, each one survives. Upon examining the upper respiratory tissue from mice exposed to both bacteria, an extraordinarily large number of neutrophil immune cells were found. In mice exposed to only one bacterium, the cells were not present.
Lab tests show neutrophils that were exposed to already-dead H. influenzae were more aggressive in attacking S. pneumoniae than unexposed neutrophils. Exposure to killed H. influenzae had no effect on live H. influenzae.
Two scenarios may be responsible for this response:
- When H. influenzae is attacked by S. pneumoniae, it signals the immune system to attack the S. pneumoniae
- The combination of the two species sets off an immune system alarm that is not set off by either species individually.
It is unclear why H. influenzae is not affected by the immune system response.[14]
Diagnosis
Diagnosis is generally made based on clinical suspicion along with a positive culture from a sample from virtually any place in the body. An ASO Titre of >200 units is significant.[2] S. pneumoniae is, in general, optochin sensitive, although optochin resistance has been observed.[15]
Atromentin and leucomelone possess antibacterial activity, inhibiting the enzyme enoyl-acyl carrier protein reductase, essential for the biosynthesis of fatty acids) in S. pneumoniae.[16]
See also
- Natural competence
- Transformation (genetics)
- Pneumococcal Awareness Council of Experts
References
- ^ Ryan KJ; Ray CG (editors) (2004). Sherris Medical Microbiology. McGraw Hill. ISBN 0-8385-8529-9.
- ^ a b Siemieniuk, Reed A.C.; Gregson, Dan B.; Gill, M. John (Nov 2011). "The persisting burden of invasive pneumococcal disease in HIV patients: an observational cohort study". BMC Infectious Diseases 11: 314. doi:10.1186/1471-2334-11-314. PMC 3226630. PMID 22078162.
- ^ Dagan R (2000). "Treatment of acute otitis media—challenges in the era of antibiotic resistance". Vaccine 19 (Suppl 1): S9–S16. doi:10.1016/S0264-410X(00)00272-3. PMID 11163457.
- ^ Sternberg, George Miller (30 April 1881). "A fatal form of septicaemia in the rabbit produced by the subcutaneous injection of human saliva. An experimental research". Bulletin of the National Board of Health (Baltimore, Maryland) .
- ^ Pasteur, Louis (1881). "Sur une maladie nouvelle provoquée par la salive d'un enfant mort de rage". Acad. D. Sc. De Paris (Paris, France) 92: 159 .
- ^ Winslow, C., and J. Broadhurst (1920). "The Families and Genera of the Bacteria: Final Report of the Committee of the Society of American Bacteriologists on Characterization and Classification of Bacterial Types". J Bacteriol 5 (3): 191–229. PMC 378870. PMID 16558872.
- ^ Avery OT, MacLeod CM, and McCarty M (1944). "Studies on the chemical nature of the substance inducing transformation of pneumococcal types: induction of transformation by a desoxyribonucleic acid fraction isolated from pneumococcus type III". J Exp Med 79 (2): 137–158. doi:10.1084/jem.79.2.137. PMC 2135445. PMID 19871359.
- ^ Lederberg J (1994). "The Transformation of Genetics by DNA: An Anniversary Celebration of Avery, Macleod and Mccarty (1944)". Genetics 136 (2): 423–6. PMC 1205797. PMID 8150273.
- ^ van der Poll T, Opal SM (2009). "Pathogenesis, treatment, and prevention of pneumococcal pneumonia". Lancet 374 (9700): 1543–56. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(09)61114-4. PMID 19880020.
- ^ Claverys JP, Prudhomme M, Martin B (2006). "Induction of competence regulons as a general response to stress in gram-positive bacteria". Annu. Rev. Microbiol. 60: 451–75. doi:10.1146/annurev.micro.60.080805.142139. PMID 16771651.
- ^ Engelmoer DJ, Rozen DE (December 2011). "Competence increases survival during stress in Streptococcus pneumoniae". Evolution 65 (12): 3475–85. doi:10.1111/j.1558-5646.2011.01402.x. PMID 22133219.
- ^ Michod RE, Bernstein H, Nedelcu AM (May 2008). "Adaptive value of sex in microbial pathogens". Infect. Genet. Evol. 8 (3): 267–85. doi:10.1016/j.meegid.2008.01.002. PMID 18295550. http://www.hummingbirds.arizona.edu/Faculty/Michod/Downloads/IGE%20review%20sex.pdf
- ^ Pericone, Christopher D., Overweg, Karin, Hermans, Peter W. M., Weiser, Jeffrey N. (2000). "Inhibitory and Bactericidal Effects of Hydrogen Peroxide Production by Streptococcus pneumoniae on Other Inhabitants of the Upper Respiratory Tract". Infect Immun 68 (7): 3990–3997. doi:10.1128/IAI.68.7.3990-3997.2000. PMC 101678. PMID 10858213.
- ^ Lysenko ES, Ratner AJ, Nelson AL, Weiser JN (2005). "The Role of Innate Immune Responses in the Outcome of Interspecies Competition for Colonization of Mucosal Surfaces". PLoS Pathog 1 (1): e1. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.0010001. PMC 1238736. PMID 16201010. Full text
- ^ Pikis, A; Campos, JM; Rodriguez, WJ; Keith, JM (2001). "Optochin resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae: mechanism, significance, and clinical implications". Journal of Infectious Diseases 184 (5): 582–590. doi:10.1086/322803. PMID 11474432.
- ^ Zheng CJ, Sohn MJ, Kim WG. (2006). "Atromentin and leucomelone, the first inhibitors specific to enoyl-ACP reductase (FabK) of Streptococcus pneumoniae". Journal of Antibiotics 59 (12): 808–12. doi:10.1038/ja.2006.108. PMID 17323650.
External links
| External identifiers for Streptococcus pneumoniae |
| Encyclopedia of Life |
974503 |
| NCBI |
1313 |
- GAVI Alliance
- PneumoADIP
- PATH's Vaccine Resource Library pneumococcal resources
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2012). "Ch. 16: Pneumococcal Disease". In Atkinson W, Wolfe S, Hamborsky J. Epidemiology and Prevention of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases (12th ed.). Washington DC: Public Health Foundation. pp. 233–248.
- Firmicutes (low-G+C) Infectious diseases
- Bacterial diseases: G+
- primarily A00–A79, 001–041, 080–109
|
|
| Bacilli |
Lactobacillales
(Cat-) |
| Streptococcus |
| α |
| optochin susceptible: |
|
|
| optochin resistant: |
- S. viridans: S. mitis
- S. mutans
- S. oralis
- S. sanguinis
- S. sobrinus
- milleri group
|
|
|
| β |
| A: |
- bacitracin susceptible: S. pyogenes
- Erysipelas
- Rheumatic fever
- Streptococcal pharyngitis
|
|
| B: |
- bacitracin resistant, CAMP test+: S. agalactiae
|
|
| ungrouped: |
- Streptococcus iniae
- Cutaneous Streptococcus iniae infection
|
|
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| γ |
- D
- BEA+: Streptococcus bovis
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|
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| Enterococcus |
- BEA+: Enterococcus faecalis
- Enterococcus faecium
|
|
|
Bacillales
(Cat+) |
| Staphylococcus |
| Cg+: |
- S. aureus
- Staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome
- Toxic shock syndrome
- MRSA
|
|
| Cg-: |
- novobiocin susceptible
- novobiocin resistant
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| Bacillus |
- Bacillus anthracis
- Bacillus cereus
|
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| Listeria |
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| Clostridia |
| Clostridium (spore-forming) |
| motile: |
- Clostridium difficile
- Clostridium botulinum
- Clostridium tetani
|
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| nonmotile: |
- Clostridium perfringens
- Clostridial necrotizing enteritis
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|
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| Peptostreptococcus (non-spore forming) |
- Peptostreptococcus magnus
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| Mollicutes |
| Mycoplasmataceae |
- Ureaplasma urealyticum
- Mycoplasma genitalium
- Mycoplasma pneumoniae
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| Anaeroplasmatales |
- Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae
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gr+f/gr+a (t)/gr-p (c)/gr-o
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drug (J1p, w, n, m, vacc)
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