Synthesis of envelope polypeptides by Haemophilus influenzae during development of competence for genetic transformation

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Abstract
Six polypeptides with apparent MWs of 95,000, 90,000, 80,000, 67,000, 64,000 and 43,000 were characteristic of the cell envelopes of competent H. influenzae and were synthesized entirely during the period of competence development. Two polypeptides with apparent MW''s of 58,500 and 40,500 were synthesized during growth and during competence development, but were only associated with the envelope fraction of cells that had developed competence. The kinetics of synthesis of the competence-related envelope polypeptides showed a lag period of approximately 20 min. The observation of this lag period raises the question as to whether some of these competence-related polypeptides might be involved in the process of DNA uptake, since the development of this property also exhibits a sigmoid time course during competence development.