Molecular characterization of cap3A, a gene from the operon required for the synthesis of the capsule of Streptococcus pneumoniae type 3: sequencing of mutations responsible for the unencapsulated phenotype and localization of the capsular cluster on the pneumococcal chromosome.

The complete nucleotide sequence of the cap3A gene of Streptococcus pneumoniae, which is directly responsible for the transformation of some unencapsulated, serotype 3 mutants to the encapsulated phenotype, has been determined. This gene encodes a protein of 394 amino acids with a predicted M(r) of 44,646. Twelve independent cap3A mutations have been mapped by genetic transformation, and three of them have been sequenced. Sequence comparisons revealed that cap3A was very similar (74.4%) to the hasB gene of Streptococcus pyogenes, which encodes a UDP-glucose dehydrogenase (UDP-GlcDH) that catalyzes the conversion of UDP-glucose to UDP-glucuronic acid, the donor substances in the pneumococcal type 3 capsular polysaccharide. Furthermore, a PCR-generated cap3A+ gene restored encapsulation in our cap3A mutants as well as in a mutant previously characterized as deficient in UDP-GlcDH (R. Austrian, H. P. Bernheimer, E.E.B. Smith, and G.T. Mills, J. Exp. Med. 110:585-602, 1959). These results support the conclusion that cap3A codes for UDP-GlcDH. We have also identified a region upstream of cap3A that should contain common genes necessary for the production of capsule of any type. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and Southern blotting showed that the capsular genes specific for serotype 3 are located near the genes encoding PBP 2X and PBP 1A in the S. pneumoniae chromosome, whereas copies of the common genes (or part of them) appear to be present in different locations in the genome.