title: Plasmid profile, colicinogeny and phage sensitivity as indicators of the dynamics of Escherichia coli populations in the human gut.
abstract: A possibility to use such bacterial phenotypes as plasmid profiles, colicinogeny and phage sensitivity as dynamics indicators of enterobacterial population in the human intestine was considered in the present work. All these three phenotypes, considered together with the type of enterobacterial association and age of the patients may reflect the dynamic state of the individual E. coli population that is currently prevailing in the intestinal microflora. The data on plasmid profile structure, colicinogeny and phage sensitivity indicate to considerable quantitative and qualitative diversity of E. coli genetic elements and the intensive interaction between bacteria in the human gut. This diversity is reflected on the formation of the dynamic population of intestinal bacteria, which obviously depends on the host age. The evaluation of the three above mentioned phenotypes confirmed that the E. coli isolates are closely coordinating with other members of the intestinal microbial association. It is noted that the plasmid frequency increases, the colicin range expands and phage sensitivity decreases in E. coli cells simultaneously with the increase of the number of enterobacterial species in the gut. The dynamics of changes in the biological features was observed among E. coli strains from different age groups of patients. The most significant was high frequency of colicinogenic strains in adult patients and di-associated E. coli containing one large plasmid in the youngest patients with dysbiosis.
authors.affiliation: Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University, 69 Pekarskaia St, Lviv 790014, Ukraine.
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Burova
authors.forename: E P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Korneichuk
authors.forename: A I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Kushkina
authors.forename: F I
authors.initials: FI
authors.lastname: Tovkach
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003087:Colicins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D003090:Coliphages / Q000502:physiology*; D004755:Enterobacteriaceae / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology / Q000821:virology; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology* / Q000821:virology; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000382:microbiology*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D059013:Microbial Consortia / Q000502:physiology*; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D008875:Middle Aged; D010957:Plasmids; D011157:Population Dynamics
chemical_list: D003087:Colicins