Several genes involved in nitrogen metabolism are known to contribute to the virulence of
pathogenic bacteria. Here, we studied the function of the nitrogen regulatory protein GlnR in
the Gram-positive human pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae. We demonstrate that GlnR
mediates transcriptional repression of genes involved in glutamine synthesis and uptake
(glnA and glnPQ), glutamate synthesis (gdhA), and the gene encoding the pentose
phosphate pathway enzyme Zwf, which forms an operon with glnPQ. Moreover, the …