Allelic variation in Streptococcus pneumoniae autolysin (N- Acetyl muramoyl-L-alanine amidase)

Abstract

The lytA gene encoding the autolysin of Streptococcus pneumoniae may be a virulence determinant. Single-strand conformational polymorphism analysis demonstrated heterogenicity throughout the gene in clinical isolates and strains from the clonal serotypes 7 and 14. Sequence analysis of part of the choline-binding domain showed that in two isolates four amino acid substitutions occurred.