ArticleThe ISME journal2023
Collective protection against the type VI secretion system in bacteria.
Article in The ISME journal, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed, 42 citations in OpenAlex.
- Repression of the Type VI Secretion System (T6SS) During Biofilm Formation Provides a Fitness Advantage forMicroorganisms · 2026Article
- Oral Actinobacteria sense and defend against parasitic epibionts.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Implications of proteome allocation constraints for understanding interbacterial antagonism.Microbiology (Reading, England) · 2026Review
- Types I, II, V, and VI secretion system genes in clinical uropathogenicMicrobiology spectrum · 2026Article
- Specific and broad-spectrum antibacterial effectors of type VI secretion system drive competition ofMicrobiology spectrum · 2026Article
- Influence of cell-cell distance on the ecology and evolution of microbial communities.The ISME journal · 2026Review
- A widely-occurring family of pore-forming effectors broadens the impact of the Serratia Type VI secretion system.The EMBO journal · 2025Article
- Structure of the conjugation surface exclusion protein TraT.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Genomic prediction of symbiotic interactions between two Endozoicomonas clades and their coral host, Acropora loripes.Animal microbiome · 2025Article
- The secretion of Pseudomonas unconventional peroxidase facilitates extracellular carbon acquisition from heterogeneous lignin.Communications biology · 2025Article
- T6SS-mediated competition bymSystems · 2025Article
- Pseudomonads coordinate innate defense against viruses and bacteria with a single regulatory system.Cell host & microbe · 2025Article
- Type VI secretion system activity at lethal antibiotic concentrations leads to overestimation of weapon potency.Microbiology (Reading, England) · 2025Article
- Chemical Compositions and Antibacterial Activities ofJournal of agricultural and food chemistry · 2025Article
- Pseudomonads coordinate innate defense against viruses and bacteria with a single regulatory system.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Decoding resistance in the age of T6SS warfare.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Multiplicity of type 6 secretion system toxins limits the evolution of resistance.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Article
- Individual-based modeling unravels spatial and social interactions in bacterial communities.The ISME journal · 2025Review
- Deciphering microbial spatial organization: insights from synthetic and engineered communities.ISME communications · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Bacteria commonly face attacks from other strains using the type VI secretion system (T6SS), which acts like a molecular speargun to stab and intoxicate competitors. Here we show how bacteria can work together to collectively defend themselves against these attacks. This project began with an outreach activity: while developing an online computer game of bacterial warfare, we noticed that one strategist ("Slimy") that made extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) was able to resist attacks from another strategist that employed the T6SS ("Stabby"). This observation motivated us to model this scenario more formally, using dedicated agent-based simulations. The model predicts that EPS production can serve as a collective defence mechanism, which protects both producing cells and neighbouring cells that do not make EPS. We then tested our model with a synthetic community that contains a T6SS-wielding attacker (Acinetobacter baylyi), and two T6SS-sensitive target strains (Escherichia coli) that either secrete EPS, or not. As predicted by our modelling, we find that the production of EPS leads to collective protection against T6SS attacks, where EPS producers protect each other and nearby non-producers. We identify two processes that explain this protection: EPS sharing between cells and a second general mechanism whereby groups of resistant cells shield susceptible cells, which we call "flank protection". Our work shows how EPS-producing bacteria can work together to defend themselves from the type VI secretion system.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.