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. 2016 Jul 5;7:1009. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2016.01009

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Copyright © 2016 Salvadori, Junges, Morrison and Petersen.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

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Competence in the Mitis group of streptococci. The CSP pheromone produced by streptococci, upon reaching a threshold concentration binds to the histidine kinase ComD, leading to phosphorylation of the response regulator ComE. ComE-P activates a positive feedback loop by inducing the expression of comCDE, and also induces the expression of sigX, which encodes the alternative sigma factor σ^X. σ^X binds to the RNA polymerase (RNAP), to activate the expression of 27 to 30 panstreptococcal competence genes responsible among other functions for DNA uptake and recombination, as well as DNA scavenging via fratricide. Optimization of conditions for transformation of the Mitis group has been mostly studied in S. pneumoniae. For other species in this group, conditions for optimal competence are generally unknown.