The article discusses the result of the research conducted by Jean-Pierre Claverys and colleagues regarding the connection between streptococcus pneumoniae competence, sibling fratricide and virulence. They discovered that pneumococcal clumping phenomenon requires a mixture of competent and non-competent cells. The clumping was caused by an agglutinin on the surface of the competent pneumococci in which the aggregation requires the presence of DNA.