Fig. 1: A subset of human gut commensals is resistant to V. cholerae’s T6SS attacks.

a–j Commensal Enterobacteriaceae show diverse sensitivity to T6SS assaults. Human commensals were tested for survival against toxigenic T6SS+ (WT; plain bars) or T6SS- (ΔvipA; stripped bars) V. cholerae. Isolates are grouped by taxa: a Escherichia coli; b Hafnia alvei; c Citrobacter freundii; d Kluyvera cryocrescens; e Enterobacter cloacae complex; f Klebsiella michiganensis; g Klebsiella oxytoca; h Klebsiella pneumoniae; i Klebsiella variicola; and j Klebsiella grimontii. The commensals’ survival is indicated on the Y-axis. Significant differences were determined using a two-sided Student’s t-test corrected for multiple comparisons. Only significant differences are indicated. ***p < 0.001. k V. cholerae is killed by commensal Enterobacter isolates. The survival of T6SS+ (WT; plain bars) or T6SS− (ΔvipA; stripped bars) V. cholerae when co-incubated with human commensals was scored. Color code and X-axis labels as in panels (a–j). *p < 0.05, indicating significant lower survival of V. cholerae (T6SS+ & T6SS−) when compared with the mean survival value of all the tested conditions (gray dashed line) as determined by two-sided Student’s t-tests. Values are derived from three independent experiments and the bars represent the mean (±SD, as defined by the error bars). dl, detection limit, as indicated by the dashed line. Source data underlying all panels are provided in the Source data file.