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Microbiology

Molecular syringes scratch the surface

Nature volume 475, pages 301–303 (2011)Cite this article

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New data suggest that the most recently discovered class of bacterial 'molecular syringes' inject proteins only across the outer membrane of target cells during interbacterial competition. See Article p.343

Many bacteria use specialized secretion systems to inject proteins or DNA into cells of eukaryotic organisms (such as animals and plants) or into other bacteria. Little is known about the mechanism of secretion in the most recently discovered class of these molecular syringes, the type VI secretion system (T6SS)1. On page 343 of this issue, Mougous and colleagues (Russell et al.2) show that the T6SS of the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa delivers two proteins into target bacteria. These proteins degrade peptidoglycan, a highly cross-linked lattice that lies just below the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria in a region called the periplasm, causing lysis of the target cell. These findings strongly suggest that the T6SS 'needles' puncture only one membrane (the bacterial outer membrane in this case), providing substantial insight into this system's mechanism of action.

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Figure 1: Similar injection systems.

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  1. Peggy Cotter is in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA.,

    Peggy Cotter

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  1. Peggy Cotter
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Correspondence to Peggy Cotter.

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Cotter, P. Molecular syringes scratch the surface. Nature 475, 301–303 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/475301a

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