Professor Sarah Coulthurst - 'How to kill your rivals: Inter-microbial competition mediated by the Type VI secretion system'
2:00pm - 3:00pm /
Wednesday 27th May 2026
/ Venue: Large Seminar Room Waterhouse Building Block J, Foresight Centre
Type: Seminar /
Category: Department
/ Series: Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences
- Carole Thomas
- Suitable for: All are welcome
- Admission: Free to attend
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The Type VI secretion system (T6SS) is a key weapon in the competitiveness and virulence of many Gram-negative bacteria. Bacterial cells use the T6SS to deliver diverse toxins (‘effectors’) directly into neighbouring cells by a contraction-based firing mechanism. The majority of T6SSs have an anti-bacterial function, being used to efficiently kill rival bacterial cells and provide a competitive advantage in a variety of polymicrobial niches. These anti-bacterial T6SSs deliver a highly variable portfolio of broad-spectrum anti-bacterial effectors and are used against competitors of the same and different species. We have used the potent anti-bacterial T6SS of the opportunistic pathogen Serratia marcescens as a model to study the mechanisms and consequences of T6SS effector delivery into competitors. This has revealed a varied portfolio of effector toxins used for several forms of inter-microbial competition and allowed us to characterise a number of new families of effectors with diverse mechanisms of action.