Analysis of biological function of recombinase A in Streptococcus mutansquorum sensing

变形链球菌产生3种葡萄糖基转移酶（GTFs），它们与重组酶A （RecA）蛋白的协同作用是细胞粘附所必需的。对gtfBand gtfCgenes序列的测定表明，在S. mutans的光滑菌落中约有3500 bp的区域被删除。这些结果表明，通过摄取细胞外RecA而发生的DNA重组和表型变化可能与突变链球菌中涉及生物膜形成的信号转导系统有关。

Streptococcus mutansproduces 3 types of glucosyltransferases (GTFs), whose cooperative action is essential for cellular adhesion, with the recombinase A (RecA) protein required for homologous recombination. Determination of the sequences of the gtfBand gtfCgenes showed that an approximately 3500-bp region was deleted in the smooth colonies of S. mutans. These results suggest that DNA recombination and phenotypic changes that occur through uptake of extracellular RecA may have a relationship with the signal transduction system involving biofilm formation in S. mutans.