Molecular structure of the gene cluster responsible for the synthesis of the polysaccharide capsule of Streptococcus pneumoniae type 33F.

The organization and nucleotide sequence of the capsular gene cluster involved in the biosynthesis of the type 33F capsular polysaccharide of Streptococcus pneumoniae have been determined. The complete type 33F operon (cap33f) is composed of 14 potential open reading frames where the last ten genes are group-specific. Putative functions have been assigned to several gene products by sequence comparison with the proteins included in the databases. A functional promoter located immediately upstream from the first gene of the cap33f gene cluster has been demonstrated. A 20 kb DNA fragment containing the cap33f genes and the operon promoter was sufficient to transform a S. pneumoniae type 3 unencapsulated mutant to the type 33F capsule.