Cell Host & Microbe (@cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social)

Promoter variation in Streptococcus: S. pneumoniae promoters contain repetitive nucleotides, driving strand slippage & promoter mutations. This drives population-level heterogeneity in gene expression, offering evolutionary strategy to maximize fitness www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

loading . . .

Naturally acquired promoter variation influences Streptococcus pneumoniae infection outcomes Barton et al. identify Streptococcus pneumoniae promoters containing repetitive nucleotide sequences that promote DNA strand slippage and accumulation of promoter sequence mutations. This drives population-level heterogeneity in downstream gene expression during single infections. The authors propose that this is an advantageous evolutionary strategy for bacteria with limited transcriptional regulatory machinery. https://www.cell.com/cell-host-microbe/fulltext/S1931-3128(25)00331-2