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Dass eng verwandte Bakterien ihre Proteine durch diesen Harpunen-Beschuss austauschen und die Bestandteile wiederverwenden, konnten die Forscher nun erstmalig beim Erreger der Cholera, Vibrio cholerae, nachweisen. Dazu haben sie T6SS-defekte Bakterien, denen die Proteine für den Bau des Speers fehlten, mit normalen T6SS-produzierenden Vibrio-Bakterien zusammengebracht.
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That closely related bacteria share their proteins through this type of spear gun attack and then recycle the components, has been demonstrated by the researchers for the first time, using the cholera pathogen, Vibrio cholerae. For this, they mixed T6SS-deficient bacteria that lack the proteins needed for the spear gun production with normal T6SS-producing Vibrio bacteria. “The special thing about Vibrio cholerae is that it assembles spear guns all the time and fires them aimlessly,” explains Andrea Vettiger, author of the study. “If one of T6SS-defecient bacteria is randomly hit, it disassembles the spear gun to its individual components, the shaft and tip proteins, and reassembles its own functional harpoon. Also the translocated tip-linked toxins can be recycled by the attacked cell. And even bacteria that no longer produce any proteins can assemble a T6SS by reusing the harpooned proteins provided by their neighboring sister cells.”
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