Phage tail-like particles are versatile bacterial nanomachines - A mini-review

Publication date: Available online 23 April 2019Source: Journal of Advanced ResearchAuthor(s): Sascha Patz, Yvonne Becker, Katja R. Richert-Pöggeler, Beatrice Berger, Silke Ruppel, H. Daniel Huson, Matthias BeckerAbstractType VI secretion systems and tailocins, two bacterial phage tail-like particles, have been reported to foster interbacterial competition. Both nanostructures enable their producer to kill other bacteria competing for the same ecological niche. Previously, type VI secretion systems and particularly R-type tailocins were considered highly specific, attacking a rather small range of competitors. Their specificity is conferred by cell surface receptors of the target bacterium and receptor-binding proteins on tailocin tail fibers and tail fiber-like appendages of T6SS. Since many R-type tailocin gene clusters contain only one tail fiber gene it was appropriate to expect small R-type tailocin target ranges. However, recently up to three tail fiber genes and broader target ranges have been reported for one plant-associated Pseudomonas strain. Here, we show that having three tail fiber genes per R-type tailocin gene cluster is a common feature of several strains of Gram-negative (often plant-associated) bacteria of the genus Kosakonia. Knowledge about the specificity of type VI secretion systems binding to target bacteria is even lower than in R-type tailocins. Although the mode of operation implicated specific binding, it was only published recently that type VI s...
Source: Journal of Advanced Research - Category: Research Source Type: research