Fig. 1: Prediction and validation of class II microcins.
From: Antibacterial microcins are ubiquitous and functionally diverse across bacterial communities
Created in BioRender. Parker, J. (2025) https://BioRender.com/n9m2y2a. A Small proteins are screened for an N-terminal double-glycine signal sequence. From thousands of hits, a set of diverse sequences are selected for antibacterial activity testing. B A Gram-negative bacterial secretion system is used to secrete putative microcins. Detection of antibacterial activity is conducted by the self-inhibition growth curve assay. C Immunity proteins, usually predicted to span the inner membrane, are added to protect the secretor from self-inhibition as needed. Zone of inhibition (ZOI) assays are performed to determine microcin spectra of activity by spotting the secretor strain on target strain(s) of interest.
