E. coli competence

[Alex Merz]

In article <Cwqzup.Hrn at ncifcrf.gov>,
Tom Schneider <toms at fcsparc6.ncifcrf.gov> wrote:
>In article <1994Sep22.151757.1971 at msus1.msus.edu> Mark Lyte
>(MOL13 at msus1.msus.edu) writes:
>
>This reminds me that Shapiro showed that bacteria grow on the edge of colonies,
>and that colonies have structures.  Perhaps the phenomena are related, but
>nobody has been able or tried to figure out how these effects occur.

Also, pathogenic _Neisseria_ species are naturally transformable;
expression of pilin (subunit of type IV pili) is req'd for
transformation at reasonable efficiencies. The pili are known virulence
(colonization) factors.

>
>  Tom Schneider
>  National Cancer Institute
>  Laboratory of Mathematical Biology
>  Frederick, Maryland  21702-1201
>  toms at ncifcrf.gov
>  http://fconvx.ncifcrf.gov:2001/~toms/info.html

-A.