{"649214":{"#nid":"649214","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Add One More Weapon to Cholera\u2019s Deadly Arsenal","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EVibrio cholerae\u003C\/em\u003E, the pathogenic bacterium that causes cholera, has killed millions worldwide, and is still found in countries where infrastructure doesn\u0026rsquo;t support clean water. Cholera patients can suffer from severe vomiting and diarrhea, which can lead to fatal dehydration.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOne factor\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EV. cholerae\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;uses to cause disease is a toxin-loaded \u0026ldquo;nano-harpoon,\u0026rdquo; in the words of\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/brian-hammer\u0022\u003EBrian Hammer\u003C\/a\u003E, associate professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Biological Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E. \u0026ldquo;Many pathogenic bacteria, including\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EV. cholerae\u003C\/em\u003E, are successful in the environment and human body because they compete for food and space by lancing their neighbors with that harpoon. The harpoon\u0026rsquo;s toxic \u0026lsquo;contact-antibiotics\u0026rsquo; kill bacteria from the inside. Thwarting human pathogens will require an understanding of these arsenals.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ENow, Hammer is on a team of scientists from Georgia Tech who have found a previously unknown weapon in the arsenal of cholera bacteria: a toxin that impairs a cell\u0026rsquo;s membrane and looks like none described prior \u0026mdash; hence the title of the team\u0026rsquo;s research study:\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/journals.asm.org\/doi\/10.1128\/mSphere.00318-21\u0022\u003E\u0026ldquo;A New Contact Killing Toxin Permeabilizes Cells and Belongs to a Broadly Distributed Protein Family\u003C\/a\u003E,\u0026rdquo; published July 21 in\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/journals.asm.org\/journal\/msphere\u0022\u003EmSphere\u003C\/a\u003E, part of the American Society of Microbiology Journals.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETeam members include Hammer (the study\u0026rsquo;s corresponding author), his graduate student\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/cristian-crisan\u0022\u003EChristian Crisan\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;(the study\u0026rsquo;s lead author), and undergraduate researcher Catherine Everly; along with assistant professor\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/physics.gatech.edu\/user\/peter-yunker\u0022\u003EPeter Yunker\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;and his postdoctoral student Gabi Steinbach of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/physics.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Physics\u003C\/a\u003E; and professor\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chemistry.gatech.edu\/people\/lieberman\/raquel\u0022\u003ERaquel Lieberman\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;and her postdoctoral student Shannon Hill in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chemistry.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Chemistry and Biochemistry\u003C\/a\u003E. Hammer and Yunker are members of Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/microdynamics.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ECenter for Microbial Dynamics and Infection\u003C\/a\u003E; and Hammer, Lieberman, and Yunker are also members of the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/bio\u0022\u003EParker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe technical term for\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EV. cholerae\u0026rsquo;s\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026ldquo;nano-harpoon\u0026rdquo; is a Type 6 Secretion System, (T6SS). \u0026ldquo;While many microbiologists have focused their efforts on a few toxins made by\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EV. cholerae\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;obtained from patients, we sequenced the DNA of\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EVibrios\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;from non-human environmental sources and developed computational tools to find new contact-antibiotic toxin genes,\u0026rdquo; Hammer says of his lab\u0026rsquo;s work. \u0026ldquo;In doing so, my student Cristian Crisan, who just defended his Ph.D., discovered a new T6 toxin that doesn\u0026#39;t look like any other protein characterized prior. He showed this toxin\u0026rdquo; \u0026mdash; which the team named TpeV (type VI permeabilizing effector\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EVibrio\u003C\/em\u003E) \u0026mdash; \u0026ldquo;kills competitors by altering their cell membranes.\u0026rdquo; Doing so results in cell damage or death.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHunting through a database, Crisan also discovered that hundreds of other bacteria, including pathogens like\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003ESalmonella\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;and\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EProteus,\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;also carry this novel toxin. \u0026ldquo;Our current work is studying exactly how this contact-antibiotic works, and ways that bacteria can adapt to become resistant to it and other T6 toxins,\u0026rdquo; Hammer says.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECholera remains a well-studied disease since it touches many disciplines including microbiology, epidemiology, aquatic ecology, and water resource management, Hammer says. Outbreaks still occur in places such as Bangladesh, Yemen, and Haiti.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ELearning more about\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EV. cholerae\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026rsquo;s toxins, and their antimicrobial abilities, could mean more effective ways to deal with antibiotic resistance, now an area of concern for microbiologists.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We demonstrate that TpeV has antimicrobial activity by permeabilizing cells, eliminating membrane potentials, and causing severe cytotoxicity,\u0026rdquo; the team writes in its study. \u0026ldquo;We propose that TpeV-like toxins contribute to the fitness of many bacteria. Finally, since antibiotic resistance is a critical global health threat, the discovery of new antimicrobial mechanisms could lead to the development of new treatments against resistant strains.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThe School of Biological Sciences, the National Science Foundation, the U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation, and the German National Academy of Natural Sciences Leopoldina contributed to this research study.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Interdisciplinary researchers discover a new membrane-dissolving toxin that V. cholerae injects into cells, giving science a possible new direction for battling the pathogen"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA team of interdisciplinary scientists from Georgia Tech led by Brian Hammer has found a previously unknown tool in the arsenal of cholera bacterium \u0026mdash; a toxin that impairs a cell\u0026rsquo;s overall membrane and looks like none described prior.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Interdisciplinary researchers discover a new membrane-dissolving toxin that V. cholerae injects into cells, giving science a possible new direction for battling the pathogen"}],"uid":"34434","created_gmt":"2021-08-03 14:39:39","changed_gmt":"2021-08-06 00:31:10","author":"Renay San Miguel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2021-08-05T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2021-08-05T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"649213":{"id":"649213","type":"image","title":"Vibrio cholerae bacteria (Photo Wikimedia Commons)","body":null,"created":"1628000792","gmt_created":"2021-08-03 14:26:32","changed":"1628000792","gmt_changed":"2021-08-03 14:26:32","alt":"","file":{"fid":"246489","name":"Vibrio cholerae electron 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flush"},{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/small-things-considered-suddath-symposium","title":"Small Things Considered at Suddath Symposium"},{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/georgia-tech-mit-team-wins-15-million-nsf-grant","title":"Georgia Tech, MIT Team Wins $1.5 Million NSF Grant"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"85951","name":"School of Chemistry and Biochemistry"},{"id":"126011","name":"School of Physics"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"166882","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"12952","name":"Brian Hammer"},{"id":"171897","name":"Vibrio cholerae"},{"id":"170084","name":"cholera"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERenay San Miguel\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\/Science Writer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCollege of Sciences\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n404-894-5209\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["renay.san@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}