Previous studies found that Gram-negative bacteria inject toxins into neighboring cells, but no comparable toxins in Gram-positive bacteria had been identified. For example, some bacteria release antimicrobial compounds into their surroundings, while others ‘inject’ protein toxins directly into adjacent cells.īacteria can be classified into two groups known as Gram-positive and Gram-negative. As a result, bacteria have evolved a wide array of strategies to directly fight their neighbors. ![]() ![]() Most bacteria live in densely colonized environments, such as the human gut, in which they must constantly compete with other microbes for space and nutrients. We speculate that interbacterial antagonism mediated by LXG toxins plays a critical role in shaping Firmicute-rich bacterial communities. intermedius, we show that LXG genes are prevalent in the human gut microbiome, a polymicrobial community dominated by Firmicutes. Consistent with our functional data linking LXG toxins to interbacterial interactions in S. The structure of one such toxin revealed a previously unobserved protein fold that we demonstrate directs the degradation of a uniquely bacterial molecule required for cell wall biosynthesis, lipid II. Here we show that proteins belonging to the LXG polymorphic toxin family present in Streptococcus intermedius mediate cell contact- and Esx secretion pathway-dependent growth inhibition of diverse Firmicute species. ![]() Although these communities are often densely colonized, a broadly distributed contact-dependent mechanism of interbacterial antagonism utilized by Firmicutes has not been elucidated. The Firmicutes are a phylum of bacteria that dominate numerous polymicrobial habitats of importance to human health and industry.
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