Graphical Abstract (IMAGE)

Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology

Graphical Abstract

Caption

Enterococcus mundtii gut bacteria (yellow) form a biofilm on the mucus layer of the African cotton leafworm Spodoptera littoralis. The symbiotic bacteria produce a channel-forming peptide called mundticin: In the gut of the leafworm, the substance permeates the cell membrane of pathobiont cells (blue and pink), eventually causing cell death. Symbiont cells (green), such as Clostridia and other E. mundtii bacteria are insensitive to mundticin.

Credit

Yongqi Shao, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

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