Antagonism as a foraging strategy in microbial communities

作者：Astrid KM Stubbusch, François J. Peaudecerf, Kang Soo Lee, Lucas Paoli, Julia Schwartzman, Roman Stocker, Marek Basler, Olga T. Schubert, Martin Ackermann, Cara Magnabosco, Glen G D’Souza · 发表于：Science · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1126/science.adr8286 · 被引用次数：39 · 研究领域：Vibrio bacteria research studies、Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology、Bacteriophages and microbial interactions

In natural habitats, nutrient availability limits bacterial growth. We discovered that bacteria can overcome this limitation by acquiring nutrients by lysing neighboring cells through contact-dependent antagonism. Using single-cell live imaging and isotopic markers, we found that during starvation, the type VI secretion system (T6SS) lysed neighboring cells and thus provided nutrients from lysing cells for growth. Genomic adaptations in antagonists, characterized by a reduced metabolic gene repertoire, and the previously unexplored distribution of the T6SS across bacterial taxa in natural environments suggest that bacterial antagonism may contribute to nutrient transfer within microbial communities in many ecosystems.