Viral Assassin VP882 Targeting E. coli (IMAGE) Princeton University Caption Princeton University Professor Bonnie Bassler and graduate student Justin Silpe discovered a bacteria-killing virus (VP882) that can eavesdrop on bacterial conversations. They re-engineered it to attack diseases including salmonella, E. coli and cholera. In these images, E. coli bacteria harbor proteins from the eavesdropping virus. One of the viral proteins has been tagged with a red marker. When the virus is in the "stay" mode (left), the bacteria grow and the red protein is spread throughout each cell. When the virus overhears that its hosts have achieved a quorum (right), the kill-stay decision protein is flipped to "kill" mode. A second viral protein binds the red protein and sends it to the cell poles (yellow dots). All the cells in the right panel will soon die. Credit Bonnie Bassler and Justin Silpe, Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University Usage Restrictions Editorial use only License Licensed content Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.