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Cannibalism and fratricide: mechanisms and raisons d'être

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 5, pages 219–229 (2007)Cite this article

Key Points

  • Bacteria produce a large variety of antimicrobial compounds directed against other bacterial species competing for the same resources. To mount an effective attack on their competitors some bacteria coordinate the production of toxins through intercellular communication with secreted species or strain-specific signalling molecules. To avoid suicide, producers also coordinate the expression of immunity proteins to protect themselves against their own toxins. Recently it has been discovered that in some cases subpopulations of isogenic bacteria can direct their weaponry against their own siblings. This phenomenon occurs in Streptococcus pneumoniae during natural transformation and in starving cells of Bacillus subtilis, and has been termed fratricide and cannibalism, respectively.

  • Cannibalism takes place during the early stages of sporulation in B. subtilis, when the bacterial population suffer from severe nutritional stress. Under such conditions, cells that have reached a certain stage in their sporulation differentiation process launch a coordinated attack on their siblings by secreting bacteriocin-like toxins. The targeted cells have not reached the same level of differentiation as their attackers, and therefore do not express the immunity proteins needed to fend off the attack. This behaviour was termed cannibalism as it causes the release of nutrients that the attacking cells can feed on to avoid, or at least delay, entry into sporulation.

  • Fratricide takes place in mixed populations of competent and non-competent pneumococci. Competent pneumococci secrete toxins that lyse their non-competent sister cells, liberating DNA and other cell constituents. This DNA-release mechanism is believed to increase the efficiency of gene exchange between pneumococci and other closely related streptococcal species under natural conditions. Evidence indicates that fratricide also contributes to virulence during human infections, as it mediates the release of the important virulence factor pneumolysin.

  • Cannibalism and fratricide represent interesting examples of a new kind of collaborative behaviour in bacteria. In these cases, some members of a population of isogenic bacteria (a subgroup), collaborate to attack their siblings. Previously, such collaborative behaviour has only been described for 'chemical warfare' between genetically non-identical bacteria.

Abstract

Cannibalism and fratricide refer to the killing of genetically identical cells (siblings) that was recently documented in two Gram-positive species, Bacillus subtilis and Streptococcus pneumoniae, respectively. Cannibalism occurs during the early stages of sporulation in B. subtilis, whereas fratricide occurs in S. pneumoniae during natural genetic transformation. Here, we compare and contrast these two phenomena and discuss whether these processes are fundamentally different from the more traditional 'chemical warfare' among bacteria.

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Figure 1: Sporulation in Bacillus subtilis and competence for genetic transformation in Streptococcus pneumoniae.
Figure 2: Common and distinctive features of cannibalism and fratricide.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank present and past members of the two laboratories for their contributions to the work discussed in this review.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Microbiologie et Génétique Moléculaires, UMR 5100 CNRS-Université Paul Sabatier, 118 route de Narbonne, Toulouse, 31062, Cedex 9, France

    Jean-Pierre Claverys

  2. Department of Chemistry, Biotechnology and Food Science, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, N-1432, Ås, Norway

    Leiv S. Håvarstein

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Correspondence to Jean-Pierre Claverys.

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DATABASES

Entrez Genome Project

Bacillus subtilis

Lactobacillus plantarum

Myxococcus xanthus

Streptococcus pneumoniae

Xanthomonas oryzae

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Glossary

Bacteriocin

A bacterially produced, small, heat-stable peptide that is active against other bacteria and to which the producer has a specific immunity mechanism. Can be narrow or broad spectrum.

Transformation

The uptake and incorporation of exogenous 'naked' DNA directly from the environment.

Response regulator

A bacterial gene-regulatory protein that controls gene expression in response to external signals. Most response regulators consist of two domains: a DNA-binding domain and a regulatory domain, the activity of which is modulated (indirectly) by the external signal.

Phosphorelay protein

A protein involved in a complex pathway in which phosphoryl groups are transferred through several signal-transduction proteins before reaching the target protein.

Krebs cycle

Also known as the tricarboxylic acid (or TCA) cycle. A metabolic pathway that breaks down the products of carbohydrate, fat and protein metabolism into carbon dioxide and water to generate energy. It also provides precursors for other compounds, such as certain amino acids.

Autocrine

The activation of cellular receptors by ligands produced by the same cell.

Two-component regulatory system

A protein pair involved in signal transduction in which the sensor is a histidine kinase, the effector is a response regulator and the signalling is based on the phosphotransfer between these two components.

Alternative σ factor

An alternative σ factor is produced under specific conditions and allows the RNA polymerase to transcribe a different set of genes from the housekeeping σ factor, σ70.

Type II CAAX prenyl endopeptidase

A protein belonging to a superfamily of putative membrane-bound metalloproteases.

Lanthionine

Lanthionine is formed when a dehydrated serine or threonine is covalently bridged (through the sulphur atom) with a cysteine.

Bistable switch

A random mechanism that switches on different genetic programmes in identical bacteria that are grown under the same conditions.

Toxin–antitoxin

Paired loci found in the chromosomes of almost all free-living bacteria, and many plasmids and phage genomes. They encode a toxin and its antidote, which have been shown to contribute to plasmid stability by a mechanism called post-segregational killing. They are also proposed to function in bacterial programmed cell death or stress physiology.

Pherotype

Streptococci that produce identical or cross-inducing competence pheromones (CSPs) belong to the same pherotype.

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Claverys, JP., Håvarstein, L. Cannibalism and fratricide: mechanisms and raisons d'être. Nat Rev Microbiol 5, 219–229 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro1613

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