Editing Streptococcus pneumoniae (section)

==History==
In 1881, the organism, known later in 1886 as the pneumococcus<ref name=Plotkin2012/> for its role as a cause of pneumonia, was first isolated simultaneously and independently by the U.S. Army [[physician]] [[George Miller Sternberg|George Sternberg]]<ref name = Sternberg>{{Cite journal | last = Sternberg | first = George Miller | author-link = George Miller Sternberg | date = 30 April 1881 | title = A fatal form of septicaemia in the rabbit produced by the subcutaneous injection of human saliva. An experimental research | journal = Bulletin of the National Board of Health }}.</ref> and the French chemist [[Louis Pasteur]].<ref name = Pasteur>{{Cite journal | last = Pasteur | first = Louis | author-link = Louis Pasteur | date = 1881 | title = Sur une maladie nouvelle provoquée par la salive d'un enfant mort de rage | journal =  Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences de Paris | volume = 92 | page = 159 }}.</ref>

The organism was termed ''Diplococcus pneumoniae'' from 1920<ref>{{cite journal |author=Winslow, C. |author2=J. Broadhurst |year=1920 |title=The Families and Genera of the Bacteria: Final Report of the Committee of the Society of American Bacteriologists on Characterization and Classification of Bacterial Types |journal=J Bacteriol |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=191–229 |doi=10.1128/JB.5.3.191-229.1920 |pmid=16558872 |pmc=378870}}</ref> because of its characteristic appearance in [[Gram stain|Gram-stained]] [[sputum]]. It was renamed ''Streptococcus pneumoniae'' in 1974 because it was very similar to [[Streptococcus|streptococci]].<ref name=Plotkin2012>{{cite book |last1=Plotkin |first1=Stanley |author-link1=Stanley Plotkin|last2=Orenstein |first2=W |author-link2=Walter Orenstein |last3=Offit |first3=PA |author-link3=Paul Offit |date=September 22, 2012 |title=Vaccines |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TRyXTLXNA2YC |publisher=Elsevier – Saunders |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=TRyXTLXNA2YC&pg=PA542&lpg=PA542&dq=%22Streptococcus%20Pneumoniae%20in%201974%22 542] |isbn=978-1-4557-0090-5 |access-date=July 2, 2015 }}</ref><ref name=Wainer2014>{{cite book |last=Wainer |first=Howard |author-link=Howard Wainer |year=2014 |title=Medical Illuminations: Using Evidence, Visualization and Statistical Thinking to Improve Healthcare |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=23tpAgAAQBAJ |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=23tpAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA53&lpg=PA53&dq=%22Looking%20at%20this%20display%22 53] |isbn=978-0-19-966879-3 |access-date=July 4, 2015 }}</ref>

''Streptococcus pneumoniae'' played a central role in demonstrating that genetic material consists of [[DNA]].  In 1928, [[Frederick Griffith]] demonstrated [[transformation (genetics)|transformation]] of life turning harmless pneumococcus into a lethal form by co-inoculating the live pneumococci into a mouse along with heat-killed [[virulent]] pneumococci.<ref name=Griffith1928>{{cite journal |last=Griffith |first=Fred |author-link=Frederick Griffith |date=January 1928 |title=The Significance of Pneumococcal Types |journal=Journal of Hygiene |volume=27 |issue=2 |pages=113–159 |doi=10.1017/S0022172400031879 |pmc=2167760 |pmid=20474956}}</ref>  In 1944, [[Oswald Avery]], [[Colin Munro MacLeod|Colin MacLeod]], and [[Maclyn McCarty]] demonstrated that the transforming factor in [[Griffith's experiment]] was not [[protein]], as was widely believed at the time, but DNA.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors =Avery OT, MacLeod CM, McCarty M |year=1944 |title=Studies on the chemical nature of the substance inducing transformation of pneumococcal types: induction of transformation by a desoxyribonucleic acid fraction isolated from pneumococcus type III |journal=J Exp Med |volume=79 |issue=2 |pages=137–158 |pmc=2135445 |pmid=19871359 |doi=10.1084/jem.79.2.137}}</ref> Avery's work marked the birth of the [[molecular genetics|molecular era of genetics]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=Lederberg J |title=The Transformation of Genetics by DNA: An Anniversary Celebration of Avery, Macleod and Mccarty (1944) |journal=Genetics |volume=136 |issue=2 |pages=423–6 |year=1994 |doi=10.1093/genetics/136.2.423 |pmid=8150273 |pmc=1205797}}</ref>