Targeting a new kingdom: the nature and significance of type VI secretion system-mediated anti-fungal activity

Infectious diseases caused by bacteria and fungi represent a major threat to health, particularly given increasing antimicrobial resistance. Such microbial organisms normally live in mixed communities whose members interact in diverse ways. Studying intermicrobial interactions will help us understand how they shape microbial communities and the mechanisms by which one microbe can help, influence or kill another. We have discovered that a bacterial weapon, the type VI secretion system (T6SS), can deliver ‘effector’ proteins into fungal cells to disable or kill them. Anti-fungal T6SSs are important in many microbial communities, in both health and disease, and they deliver varied effectors. 

We will investigate the nature and role of T6SS-dependent anti-fungal activity and understand how T6SSs intoxicate fungal cells at a molecular level. 

This investigation will reveal new aspects of microbial biology and may contribute towards future anti-fungal therapies.