CCNY scientists provide new insights into cholera microbe and chances of pandemic strain
Researchers at The City College of New York have uncovered a novel way in which Vibrio cholerae, the aquatic microbe that causes cholera, may increase its competitive fitness, and the likelihood of creating pandemic strains of the bacteria.
The finding was revealed by examining the type VI secretion system, or T6SS for short, a secretion system used by Vibrio cholerae to inject toxic proteins into neighboring bacterial cells, killing them and increasing its survival advantage. The researchers studied a gene cluster within the T6SS called auxiliary cluster 3 (Aux3). The gene cluster exists in two states: one, which is highly mobile, is found in environmental strains of V. cholerae these do not cause disease and a second, which is a less mobile form of the gene cluster. This second, less mobile form of the gene cluster is locked in the pandemic V. cholerae genome and potentially helped create