No abstract

SUMMARY The type VI secretion system (T6SS) is a virulence mechanism common to several Gram-negative pathogens. In Vibrio cholerae, VgrG-1 is required for T6SS-dependent secretion. VgrG-1 is also secreted by T6SS and displays a C-terminal actin cross-linking domain (ACD). Using a heterologous reporter enzyme in place of the ACD, we show that the effector and secretion functions of VgrG-1 are genetically dissociable with the ACD being dispensable for secretion, but required for T6SS-dependent phenotypes. Furthermore, internalization of bacteria is required for ACD translocation into phagocytic target cells. Inhibiting bacterial uptake abolishes actin cross-linking while improving intracellular survival enhances it. Otherwise resistant nonphagocytic cells become susceptible to T6SS-mediated actin cross-linking when engineered to take up bacteria. Our results support a model for translocation of VgrG C-terminal effector domains into target cell cytosol by a process that requires trafficking of bacterial cells into an endocytic compartment where translocation is triggered by an unknown signal.

The type VI secretion system (T6SS) is recognized as an important virulence mechanism in several Gram-negative pathogens. In Vibrio cholerae, the causative agent of the diarrheal disease cholera, a minimum of three gene clusters-one main cluster and two auxiliary clusters-are required to form a functional T6SS apparatus capable of conferring virulence toward eukaryotic and prokaryotic hosts. Despite an increasing understanding of the components that make up the T6SS apparatus, little is known about the regulation of these genes and the gene products delivered by this nanomachine. VasH is an important regulator of the V. cholerae T6SS. Here, we present evidence that VasH regulates the production of a newly identified protein, VasX, which in turn requires a functional T6SS for secretion. Deletion of vasX does not affect export or enzymatic function of the structural T6SS proteins Hcp and VgrG-1, suggesting that VasX is dispensable for the assembly of the physical translocon complex. VasX localizes to the bacterial membrane and interacts with membrane lipids. We present VasX as a novel virulence factor of the T6SS, as a V. cholerae mutant lacking vasX exhibits a phenotype of attenuated virulence toward Dictyostelium discoideum.Vibrio cholerae is the marine bacterium responsible for the diarrheal disease cholera. Multiple cholera pandemics have been caused by the O1 serogroup of V. cholerae, and recently, O139 has emerged as a new pandemic strain (11). The principal virulence factors postulated to be essential for the pandemic spread of strains belonging to these serogroups are cholera toxin (CT) and the toxin-coregulated pilus (TCP) (13, 17). Non-O1 and non-O139 serogroups of V. cholerae are also capable of causing disease, in some cases in the absence of CT and TCP (10). In 1968, the O37 serogroup strain V52 was responsible for an outbreak of cholera-like diarrheal illness in Sudan, with 460 cases leading to 125 deaths (42). The genome of V52 carries both CT and TCP genes, but whether this strain produces CT and TCP in vivo has not yet been determined. V52 possesses a constitutively active type VI secretion system (T6SS) that confers virulence toward phagocytic cells, including the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum and murine macrophages (34). Pandemic strains of V. cholerae also possess the full complement of T6SS genes, but it is currently unclear how the T6SS is activated and how this system contributes to human disease.