Pneumococcal Research Transformed

The genomic sequences of more than 30 bacterial species, including virtually all important human pathogens, have been deciphered. The pneumococcus, discovered in 1880 virtually simultaneously by Pasteur in France and Sternberg in the United States and used extensively in the 20th century to probe fundamental questions of life,1 was only recently added to this list.2 What can be learned from the description of yet another bacterial genome — in this case the 2,160,837 base pairs of Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 4, which make up some 2236 genes? Several unexpected discoveries resulted from the mining of the genomic sequence of this virulent . . .