Cholera and the Gut Microbiota

META researchers Savannah Logan, Raghuveer Parthasarathy, and colleagues recently published a study exploring the intestinal activity of Vibrio cholerae, the bacterial pathogen that causes cholera. Combining unprecedented live imaging and genetic manipulation, they discovered that the bacterium’s Type VI Secretion System, a syringe-like stabbing machine, can induce the animal to increase the mechanical activity of its intestinal contractions, expelling resident bacteria. The paper is here: and a blurb by Prof. Parthasarathy is here:
 

Trajectories of Vibrio cholerae bacteria (blue) swimming inside the gut of a larval zebrafish.” Other information: The gut is visible as a gray background. The total duration of the movie that was “squashed” into this image is 3.5 seconds, and the total image width is about 0.3 mm.

 
Illustration (watercolor) by Raghuveer Parthasarathy

June 11, 2018