Back
Interbacterial predation as a strategy for DNA acquisition in naturally competent bacteria.
Journal article

Interbacterial predation as a strategy for DNA acquisition in naturally competent bacteria.

  • Veening JW Molecular Genetics Group, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, Centre for Synthetic Biology, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands. Present address: Department of Fundamental Microbiology, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Biophore Building, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
  • Blokesch M Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology, Global Health Institute, School of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL; Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne), Station 19, EPFL-SV-UPBLO, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
  • 2017-07-11
Published in:
  • Nature reviews. Microbiology. - 2017
Biological Transport
DNA Transformation Competence
DNA, Bacterial
Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial
Gene Transfer, Horizontal
Streptococcus pneumoniae
Transformation, Bacterial
Type VI Secretion Systems
Vibrio cholerae
English Natural competence enables bacteria to take up exogenous DNA. The evolutionary function of natural competence remains controversial, as imported DNA can act as a source of substrates or can be integrated into the genome. Exogenous homologous DNA can also be used for genome repair. In this Opinion article, we propose that predation of non-related neighbouring bacteria coupled with competence regulation might function as an active strategy for DNA acquisition. Competence-dependent kin-discriminated killing has been observed in the unrelated bacteria Vibrio cholerae and Streptococcus pneumoniae. Importantly, both the regulatory networks and the mode of action of neighbour predation differ between these organisms, with V. cholerae using a type VI secretion system and S. pneumoniae secreting bacteriocins. We argue that the forced release of DNA from killed bacteria and the transfer of non-clonal genetic material have important roles in bacterial evolution.
Language
  • English
Open access status
closed
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://sonar.ch/global/documents/20260
Statistics
Document views: 14 File downloads: