Hyperrecombination in Streptococcus pneumoniae depends on an atypical mutY homologue

The unusual behavior of the mutation ami36, which generates hyperrecombination in two point crosses, was previously attributed to a localized conversion process changing A/G mispairs into CG pairs. Although the mechanism was found to be dependent on the DNA polymerase I, the specific function responsible for this correction was still unknown. Analysis of the pneumococcal genome sequence has revealed the presence of an open reading frame homologous to the gene mutY of Escherichia coli. The gene mutY encodes an adenine glycosylase active on A/G and A/7,8-dihydro-8-oxoguanine (8-OxoG) mismatches, inducing their repair to CG and C/8-OxoG, respectively. Here we report that disrupting the pneumococcal mutY homologue abolishes the hyperrecombination induced by ami36 and leads to a mutator phenotype specifically enhancing AT-to-CG transversions. The deduced amino acid sequence of the pneumococcal MutY protein reveals the absence of four cysteines, highly conserved in the endonuclease III/MutY glycosylase family, which ligate a 4Fe-4S](2+) cluster. The actual function of this cluster is still intriguing, inasmuch as we show that the pneumococcal gene complements a mutY strain of E. coli.