A study led by Professor Alain Filloux's group has been awarded the "2014 Best Microbiology Paper" in Journal of Biological Chemistry.

The editors of Journal of Biological Chemistry (JBC) have designated the paper "The VgrG proteins are "à la carte" delivery systems for bacterial type VI effectors”, as one of the best papers published by the journal in 2014.

JBC editors selected only 21 papers from thousands published last year in the journal and this study was selected as the “Best of the Year” published by the Microbiology affinity group. The type VI secretion system (T6SS), a fascinating molecular weapon deployed by bacteria, is used for killing competitors to prevail in polymicrobial environments.

Dr Abderrahman Hachani and Dr Luke Allsopp, post-doctoral researchers in the group of Professor Alain Filloux have demonstrated the existence in Pseudomonas aeruginosa of yet uncharacterized anti-bacterial toxins that are injected by the T6SS.

The study suggests that these toxins are associated and transported by attaching to the so-called puncturing device at the tip of the T6SS nanomachine. This novel delivery mechanism highlights the modularity of the T6SS, by adapting its tip interface to each of the individual toxins. Surely this finding will be generalised to the T6SS present in other bacteria.