V. cholerae Is Resistant to V52 T6SS-Mediated Bacterial Virulence.
Another important question regarding T6SS-mediated bacterial
virulence is whether V52 is capable of distinguishing self from
nonself. The killing assay was performed using rifampicin-resistant
isolates of selected V. cholerae serogroups as prey and measuring
survival following exposure to a rifampicin-sensitive predator V52
and V52ΔvasK. As prey, V52 and V52ΔvasK were unaffected by
wild-type V52 exposure, whereas E. coli suffered a reduction
of >1,000-fold (Fig. 7). Survival of O1 serogroup representatives,
including the seventh pandemic El Tor strains N16961 and C6706,
and the classical O395 strain was not significantly affected by exposure
to wild-type V52 (Fig. 7).