Nature Communications (Jan 2021)

Contact-independent killing mediated by a T6SS effector with intrinsic cell-entry properties

  • Li Song,
  • Junfeng Pan,
  • Yantao Yang,
  • Zhenxing Zhang,
  • Rui Cui,
  • Shuangkai Jia,
  • Zhuo Wang,
  • Changxing Yang,
  • Lei Xu,
  • Tao G. Dong,
  • Yao Wang,
  • Xihui Shen

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-20726-8
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 1
pp. 1 – 12

Abstract

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Bacteria can use type VI secretion systems (T6SSs) to inject toxic effector proteins into adjacent cells, in a contact-dependent manner. Here, the authors provide evidence of contact-independent killing by a T6SS effector that is secreted into the extracellular milieu and then taken up by other bacterial cells.