Affiliation:
1. Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology, Global Health Institute, School of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
Abstract
Killing, sex, and gene swaps in bacteria
The bacterial type VI secretion system (T6SS) is used by bacteria to inject toxins into neighboring cells to eliminate competition. This molecular machine is thus considered to be a mechanism by which bacteria can exert social control in complex microbial communities. Borgeaud
et al.
have discovered that in
Vibrio cholerae
, T6SS genes are co-regulated with genes involved in DNA uptake. Hence, T6SS-dependent killing of other bacteria is directed at neighboring cells, which release their DNA to be taken up by the killer, which can then integrate valuable genes and rapidly evolve, leading to antibiotic resistance or virulence.
Science
, this issue p.
63
Funder
European Research Council
Swiss National Science Foundation
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Cited by
328 articles.
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