Nature Communications (Feb 2017)

Killing by Type VI secretion drives genetic phase separation and correlates with increased cooperation

  • Luke McNally,
  • Eryn Bernardy,
  • Jacob Thomas,
  • Arben Kalziqi,
  • Jennifer Pentz,
  • Sam P. Brown,
  • Brian K. Hammer,
  • Peter J. Yunker,
  • William C. Ratcliff

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms14371
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 1
pp. 1 – 11

Abstract

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The Type VI Secretory System (T6SS) is used by some bacteria to kill non-kin competitors. Here, McNally and colleagues combine mathematical modelling, experiments withVibrio choleraand phylogenetic analysis to show that by eliminating nearby non-kin the T6SS may also favour cooperation among kin.