Department of Microbiology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
Department of Microbiology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA 98195, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
Curr Biol. 2020 Oct 5;30(19):R1203-R1214. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.06.103.
The study of bacteria interacting with their environment has historically centered on strategies for obtaining nutrients and resisting abiotic stresses. We argue this focus has deemphasized a third facet of bacterial life that is equally central to their existence: namely, the threat to survival posed by antagonizing bacteria. The diversity and ubiquity of interbacterial antagonism pathways is becoming increasingly apparent, and the insidious manner by which interbacterial toxins disarm their targets emphasizes the highly evolved nature of these processes. Studies examining the role of antagonism in natural communities reveal it can serve many functions, from facilitating colonization of naïve habitats to maintaining bacterial community stability. The pervasiveness of antagonistic pathways is necessarily matched by an equally extensive array of defense strategies. These overlap with well characterized, central stress response pathways, highlighting the contribution of bacterial interactions to shaping cell physiology. In this review, we build the case for the ubiquity and importance of interbacterial antagonism.
细菌与环境相互作用的研究历史上集中于获取营养和抵抗非生物胁迫的策略。我们认为，这种关注点已经淡化了细菌生活的第三个同等重要的方面：即，对抗菌细菌生存构成的威胁。细菌间拮抗途径的多样性和普遍性正变得越来越明显，细菌间毒素以阴险的方式破坏其靶标，这强调了这些过程高度进化的性质。研究表明，拮抗作用在自然群落中可以发挥多种功能，从促进对陌生栖息地的定植到维持细菌群落的稳定性。拮抗途径的普遍性必然与同样广泛的防御策略相匹配。这些策略与特征明确的中心应激反应途径重叠，突出了细菌相互作用对塑造细胞生理学的贡献。在这篇综述中，我们提出了细菌间拮抗作用普遍存在和重要性的观点。
