Contact-Dependent Interbacterial Antagonism Mediated by Protein Secretion Machines

Timothy A Klein; Shehryar Ahmad; John C Whitney

doi:10.1016/j.tim.2020.01.003

Contact-Dependent Interbacterial Antagonism Mediated by Protein Secretion Machines

Trends Microbiol. 2020 May;28(5):387-400. doi: 10.1016/j.tim.2020.01.003. Epub 2020 Feb 12.

Authors

Timothy A Klein¹, Shehryar Ahmad¹, John C Whitney²

Affiliations

¹ Michael DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada L8S 4K1; Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada L8S 4K1.
² Michael DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada L8S 4K1; Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada L8S 4K1; David Braley Centre for Antibiotic Discovery, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada L8S 4K1. Electronic address: jwhitney@mcmaster.ca.

PMID: 32298616
DOI: 10.1016/j.tim.2020.01.003

Abstract

To establish and maintain an ecological niche, bacteria employ a wide range of pathways to inhibit the growth of their microbial competitors. Some of these pathways, such as those that produce antibiotics or bacteriocins, exert toxicity on nearby cells in a cell contact-independent manner. More recently, however, several mechanisms of interbacterial antagonism requiring cell-to-cell contact have been identified. This form of microbial competition is mediated by antibacterial protein toxins whose delivery to target bacteria uses protein secretion apparatuses embedded within the cell envelope of toxin-producing bacteria. In this review, we discuss recent work implicating the bacterial Type I, IV, VI, and VII secretion systems in the export of antibacterial 'effector' proteins that mediate contact-dependent interbacterial antagonism.

Keywords: antibacterial toxins; bacterial protein secretion; interbacterial antagonism.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Antibiosis / physiology*
Bacteria / genetics
Bacteria / metabolism*
Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / genetics
Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / metabolism
Bacterial Secretion Systems / genetics
Bacterial Secretion Systems / metabolism*
Bacterial Toxins / metabolism
Bacteriocins / metabolism*
Cell Wall / metabolism

Substances

Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins
Bacterial Secretion Systems
Bacterial Toxins
Bacteriocins