Shanghai Jiaotong University Dong Tao's team made new discoveries in the mechanism of type VI secretion system to kill Gram-positive bacteria

Recently, Dong Tao's team from the School of Life Science and Technology of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism discovered a type VI protein secretion system (T6SS) that can kill a variety of pathogenic bacteria and fungi

Figure 1: Schematic diagram of the structure of the bacterial cell wall (1);

PG: cell wall; PM: inner membrane; OM: outer membrane

Interactions between bacteria and other bacteria, fungi or eukaryotic hosts in the environment are critical for their survival in complex habitats and for the functioning of the entire microbiota

Figure 2: Enzymatic activity, self-cleavage properties and secretory pathway of the effector protein RhsB

In this study, it was found that Acidovorax citrulli AAC00-1 can effectively kill a variety of microorganisms, including Gram-positive bacteria and fungi, using its T6SS

Figure 3: T6SS has bactericidal activity in the plant host environment;

AC: Acidophilus watermelon AAC00-1; CW: cell wall; IM: inner membrane; OM: outer membrane

In the past research, the field often focused on the research on the function of T6SS in human pathogenic bacteria, and found that T6SS from different sources showed different killing effects on other bacteria and fungi

This research was supported by a number of projects including the National Key R&D Program (2020YFA0907200) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31770082, 32030001)

Paper link : https://onlinelibrary.