ArticlePLoS genetics2021
Phage infection and sub-lethal antibiotic exposure mediate Enterococcus faecalis type VII secretion system dependent inhibition of bystander bacteria.
Article in PLoS genetics, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 46 papers.
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Who cites it
46 citing papers in PubMed, 72 citations in OpenAlex.
- Intra-species competition combats vancomycin-resistant enterococci.Gut microbes · 2026Article
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- Oral Actinobacteria sense and defend against parasitic epibionts.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Type VIIb secretion systems in Lactobacillales: insights from streptococci and enterococci.Journal of bacteriology · 2026Review
- Contact dependent suppression ofbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
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- Distinct immunity protein families mediate compartment-specific neutralization of a bacterial toxin.Cell reports · 2025Article
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- A widespread family of molecular chaperones promotes the intracellular stability of type VIIb secretion system-exported toxins.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Host niche-specific challenges hindering the treatment of polymicrobial infections.Journal of bacteriology · 2025Review
- Insights into ecology, pathogenesis, and biofilm formation ofMicrobiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2025Review
- VITAP: a high precision tool for DNA and RNA viral classification based on meta-omic data.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Growth of microbes in competitive lifestyles promotes increased ARGs in soil microbiota: insights based on genetic traits.Microbiome · 2025Article
- Biofilm Prevention and Removal in Non-TargetBiomedicines · 2024Article
- High-throughput functional analysis provides novel insight into type VII secretion inOpen biology · 2024Article
- A group B streptococcal type VII secreted LXG toxin mediates interbacterial competition and colonization of the female genital tract.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Structure of a tripartite protein complex that targets toxins to the type VII secretion system.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Prospects and Challenges of Bacteriophage Substitution for Antibiotics in Livestock and Poultry Production.Biology · 2024Review
- Enterococcal-host interactions in the gastrointestinal tract and beyond.FEMS microbes · 2024Review
- Article
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4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Bacteriophages (phages) are being considered as alternative therapeutics for the treatment of multidrug resistant bacterial infections. Considering phages have narrow host-ranges, it is generally accepted that therapeutic phages will have a marginal impact on non-target bacteria. We have discovered that lytic phage infection induces transcription of type VIIb secretion system (T7SS) genes in the pathobiont Enterococcus faecalis. Membrane damage during phage infection induces T7SS gene expression resulting in cell contact dependent antagonism of different Gram positive bystander bacteria. Deletion of essB, a T7SS structural component, abrogates phage-mediated killing of bystanders. A predicted immunity gene confers protection against T7SS mediated inhibition, and disruption of its upstream LXG toxin gene rescues growth of E. faecalis and Staphylococcus aureus bystanders. Phage induction of T7SS gene expression and bystander inhibition requires IreK, a serine/threonine kinase, and OG1RF_11099, a predicted GntR-family transcription factor. Additionally, sub-lethal doses of membrane targeting and DNA damaging antibiotics activated T7SS expression independent of phage infection, triggering T7SS antibacterial activity against bystander bacteria. Our findings highlight how phage infection and antibiotic exposure of a target bacterium can affect non-target bystander bacteria and implies that therapies beyond antibiotics, such as phage therapy, could impose collateral damage to polymicrobial communities.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.