Characterising_streptococcal_transformation_through_sequencing_in_vitro_recombinants

Bacterial transformation is of great importance both clinically, as it can faciiltate the acquisition of antibiotic resistance and the evasion of vaccines, and biologically, as it plays a a critical role in affecting bacterial population structure and speciation. This analysis is designed to characterise the constraints on genetic exchange through bacterial transformation. A recipient genotype, Streptococcus pneumoniae R6I-20d, was transformed with the same rifampicin resistance mutation isolated in different streptococcal donor species, to identify the important aspects of interspecies variation that limited recombination. Similarly, other resistance markers in S. pneumoniae were also transformed into R6I-20d, to identify how the properties of homologous recombination changed with the structural properties of the resistance determinant. Finally, mutant derivatives of R6I-20d were transformed with the same resistance markers, to identify which aspects of the machinery controlled different properties of the recombination process. By better understanding the transformation process, we can greatly enhance our understanding of bacterial evolution and epidemiology.