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  • Review Article
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DNA uptake during bacterial transformation

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 2, pages 241–249 (2004)Cite this article

Key Points

  • Genetic competence refers to the ability of some bacteria to undergo transformation — to take up exogenous DNA and incorporate it stably into their own genome.

  • Naturally transformable organisms express specialized proteins that function in DNA uptake and processing. These proteins are usually conserved among the competent bacteria, both Gram-positive and Gram-negative.

  • Among the proteins that are involved in DNA uptake, a subset is related to components of the type IV pilus and type II secretion systems. In piliated Gram-negative organisms, these proteins are involved in both pilus formation and DNA uptake, leading to a correlation between these two phenotypes.

  • The function of this group of proteins is to bring DNA from the surface, across the outer membrane, peptidoglycan layer and periplasmic space (in Gram-negatives), or across the cell wall (in Gram-positives), to the cytoplasmic membrane.

  • By contrast, Helicobacter pylori uses proteins that are related to components of the type IV secretion and conjugation systems to bring DNA to the cytoplasmic membrane.

  • A translocation complex mediates the transport of DNA across the cytoplasmic membrane. The proteins in this complex are: a DNA receptor, a polytopic membrane protein that can form a channel and an ATP-binding protein. These components show characteristics of elements from ABC transporter systems.

Abstract

Naturally competent bacteria are able to take up exogenous DNA and undergo genetic transformation. The transport of DNA from the extracellular milieu into the cytoplasm is a complex process, and requires proteins that are related to those involved in the assembly of type IV pili and type II secretion systems, as well as a DNA translocase complex at the cytoplasmic membrane. Here, we will review the current knowledge of DNA transport during transformation.

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Figure 1: Comparison of machinery required for type II secretion, type IV pilus formation and transformation in Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria.

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Acknowledgements

We thank members of our laboratory for helpful discussions and L. Mindich and B. Mulder for comments on the manuscript. We apologize to investigators whose work was not mentioned due to space constraints. The work cited from our lab was supported by NIH grants.

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  1. Public Health Research Institute, Newark, 07103, New Jersey, USA

    Inês Chen & David Dubnau

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  1. Inês Chen
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  2. David Dubnau
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to David Dubnau.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Related links

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DATABASES

Entrez

Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans

Bacillus subtilis

Campylobacter jejuni

Haemophilus influenzae

Helicobacter pylori

Neisseria gonorrhoeae

Streptococcus pneumoniae

SwissProt

BdbC

BdbD

ComC

ComEA

ComEC

ComFA

ComGA

ComGB

ComGC

ComGD

ComGE

ComGF

NucA

PilAII

PilC

PilD

PilE

PilF

PilG

PilP

PilQ

PilT

PulD

PulE

PulF

PulG

PulH

PulI

PulJ

PulK

PulO

VirB4

VirB6

VirB7

VirB10

VirB11

VirD4

FURTHER INFORMATION

Transport Protein Database

TC 3A.11.1.1

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Chen, I., Dubnau, D. DNA uptake during bacterial transformation. Nat Rev Microbiol 2, 241–249 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro844

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro844

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