Competence stimulating peptide

Competence stimulating peptides (CSP) are chemical messengers that assist the initiation of quorum sensing, and exist in many bacterial genera.

[1] Competence stimulating peptides are a subset of proteins that promote quorum sensing in numerous bacterial genera including Streptococcus and Bacillus.

Streptococcus pneumonia, a highly studied gram-positive bacterium, is capable of quorum sensing and can release autoinducers, chemical signals that increase as concentration based on density.

[7] Replacement of the first glutamate residue in CSP1 inhibits receptor activation of competency genes, and hydrophobic regions on the CSP1 molecule play key roles in effective ComD1 and Com2 binding.

[8] Interspecies interactions between biofilm producing organisms induce the release of chemical signals that inhibit binding or receptor activation in competence stimulating processes.

[10] Quorum sensing bacteria within the human microbiome are responsible for many diseases including sinusitis,[11] otitis media,[11][12] pneumonia,[11] bacteraemia,[13] osteomyelitis, septic arthritis, and meningitis.

[15] S. pneumoniae uses the competence stimulating peptide and quorum sensing to initiate its attack, establish an infection, and develop antibiotic resistance genes.