Inflamed Gut Microcins

The purpose of this article is to express evidence that microcins mediate interspecies as well as intraspecies competition among Enterobacteriaceae in the inflamed gut. Enterobacteriaceae are known as a family of gram-negative bacteria that comprise of commensal organisms, primary and opportunistic pathogens that are a part of the leading causes of illness and death. Microcins are proteins that contain antimicrobial activity in vitro. The experiment in this article is not based on the collection of information using numerical data, but it does involve experimental research, therefore it utilizes the quantitative research design. The article is also based on the development of theories about microcins and the competition between different forms
The first part of the scientific method is to make an observation and the observation here is the microcin-producing Enterobacteriaceae found in human stool. The follow-up to this observation was to ascertain an in vivo function for microcins by studying Escherichia coli Nissle (EcN) and its relationship with related competitors in the gut. The first method that was used to conduct the experiment was the intra-gastric inoculation of the specific-pathogen-free mice with an equal mixture of a mouse-commensal E. coli (cEc) strain and the wild-type EcN or a mutant that was unable to secrete both microcins (mchDEF). This was done in order to understand if the microcins of EcN could promote the colonization of a healthy intestine. This method is not the best method because Enterobacteriaceae colonize at low levels in the setting, meaning that the promotion of colonization in a healthy intestine is not determined by this
The first set of data is from the EcN WT vs STm and the second set of data is from the EcN mchDEF vs the STm. The STm is the diarrheal pathogen Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. The x-axis depicts day 1, day 4, and day 7. The y-axis depicts the ratio in the faecal content post-inoculation. There are error bars over each of the bars in the graph. Day 1 shows that the graphs being compared are approximately the same at a ratio of a little over 1:1. The day 4 shows that the EcN WT vs STm content was much higher than that of the EcN mchDEF vs STm. Day 7 shows that the EcN Wt vs Stm was significantly migher than the EcN mchDEF vs Stm. None of the error bars give any indications that the faecal content for and of the days were close in number if multiple trials were performed. Overall the graph shows that when the streptomycin-treated mice were co-administered Stm and either the wild-type EcN or EcN mchDEF, the wild-type EcN outcompeted the STm past day 4 after