Colibactin produced by a honeybee gut symbiont mediates pathogen defence.

Authors

Yulin Song, J Elijah Powell, Joel W H Wong, Yunxi Liu, Miguel A Aguilar Ramos, Tyler De Jong, Patrick J Lariviere, Jayaditya Maganti, Emily P Balskus, Nancy A Moran

Published in

Nature microbiology. Aug 24, 2026. Epub Aug 24, 2026.

Abstract

Colibactin is a bacterial genotoxin that damages DNA and is linked to colorectal cancer. It is implicated in interbacterial competition but its role in natural microbiomes is unclear. Here we show that Frischella perrara, a colibactin-producing symbiont restricted to honeybee guts, lowers bee lifespan but increases survivorship following challenge with the opportunistic bee pathogen Serratia marcescens. F. perrara mutants lacking colibactin production fail to improve survivorship following challenge. The symbiont reduces pathogen loads by causing colibactin-dependent DNA damage and prophage induction. Colibactin is toxic to the pathogen under anoxic conditions, reflecting the bee gut. clbS, a gene conferring protection from colibactin, is ubiquitous among bacteria restricted to bee guts but absent from opportunistic colonizers, including pathogens. Indeed, F. perrara colonization representing colibactin pressure had limited impact on the bee gut microbiome where strains encode clbS. Our findings suggest that colibactin functions in interbacterial competition and protects against pathogens while permitting co-evolved symbionts to persist.

PMID:
42637888
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 25 Aug 2026.

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