Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Infection and Immunity logoLink to Infection and Immunity
. 1981 Dec;34(3):957–969. doi: 10.1128/iai.34.3.957-969.1981

Antagonisms among isogenic strains of Escherichia coli in the digestive tracts of gnotobiotic mice.

Y Duval-Iflah, P Raibaud, M Rousseau
PMCID: PMC350962  PMID: 7037647

Abstract

We have observed that antagonisms occur between isogenic strains of Escherichia coli associated with gnotobiotic mice. The strains differed in the carriage of plasmids or in chromosomal mutations. The plasmid-free strains, in general, inhibited the establishment of plasmid-bearing strains in the gastrointestinal tract of mice. The outcome of the interactions between isogenic pairs, however, depended on the order in which the strains were introduced into the mice. Maintaining the bacterial strains in monoassociation with gnotobiotic mice resulted in the "adaptation" of the bacteria to their host. Thus, in all cases, "adapted" strains became the dominant population in the feces of mice, regardless of whether the adapted strains was introduced into mice before or after its isogenic partner which had been cultured in vitro. The ecological advantage disappeared when the adapted strain was cultured in broth. Ultrastructural differences in cell morphology were observed between strains maintained in vivo and in vitro.

Full text

PDF
957

Images in this article

959Image
on p.959
965Image
on p.965
966Image
on p.966
967Image
on p.967

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Anderson E. S. Viability of, and transfer of a plasmid from, E. coli K12 in human intestine. Nature. 1975 Jun 5;255(5508):502–504. doi: 10.1038/255502a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Anderson J. D. The effect of R-factor carriage on the survival of Escherichia coli in the human intestine. J Med Microbiol. 1974 Feb;7(1):85–90. doi: 10.1099/00222615-7-1-85. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bachmann B. J., Low K. B., Taylor A. L. Recalibrated linkage map of Escherichia coli K-12. Bacteriol Rev. 1976 Mar;40(1):116–167. doi: 10.1128/br.40.1.116-167.1976. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Ducluzeau R., Dubos F., Raibaud P., Abrams G. D. Inhibition of Clostridium perfringens by an antibiotic substance produced by Bacillus licheniformis in the digestive tract of gnotobiotic mice: effect on other bacteria from the digestive tract. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1976 Jan;9(1):20–25. doi: 10.1128/aac.9.1.20. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Ducluzeau R., Ladire M., Callut C., Raibaud P., Abrams G. D. Antagonistic effect of extremely oxygen-sensitive clostridia from the microflora of conventional mice and of Escherichia coli against Shigella flexneri in the digestive tract of gnotobiotic mice. Infect Immun. 1977 Aug;17(2):415–424. doi: 10.1128/iai.17.2.415-424.1977. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Ducluzeau R., Raibaud P. Interaction between Escherichia coli and Shigella flexneri in the digestive tract of "gnotobiotic" mice. Infect Immun. 1974 Apr;9(4):730–733. doi: 10.1128/iai.9.4.730-733.1974. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Duval-Iflah Y., Raibaud P., Tancrede C., Rousseau M. R-plasmic transfer from Serratia liquefaciens to Escherichia coli in vitro and in vivo in the digestive tract of gnotobiotic mice associated with human fecal flora. Infect Immun. 1980 Jun;28(3):981–990. doi: 10.1128/iai.28.3.981-990.1980. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Godwin D., Slater J. H. The influence of the growth environment on the stability of a drug resistance plasmid in Escherichia coli K12. J Gen Microbiol. 1979 Mar;111(1):201–210. doi: 10.1099/00221287-111-1-201. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Guerry P., LeBlanc D. J., Falkow S. General method for the isolation of plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid. J Bacteriol. 1973 Nov;116(2):1064–1066. doi: 10.1128/jb.116.2.1064-1066.1973. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Hartley C. L., Richmond M. H. Antibiotic resistance and survival of E coli in the alimentary tract. Br Med J. 1975 Oct 11;4(5988):71–74. doi: 10.1136/bmj.4.5988.71. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Ikari N. S., Kenton D. M., Young V. M. Interaction in the germfree mouse intestine of colicinogenic and colicin-sensitive microorganisms. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med. 1969 Apr;130(4):1280–1284. doi: 10.3181/00379727-130-33773. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Knox K. W., Vesk M., Work E. Relation between excreted lipopolysaccharide complexes and surface structures of a lysine-limited culture of Escherichia coli. J Bacteriol. 1966 Oct;92(4):1206–1217. doi: 10.1128/jb.92.4.1206-1217.1966. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Luft J. H. Ruthenium red and violet. I. Chemistry, purification, methods of use for electron microscopy and mechanism of action. Anat Rec. 1971 Nov;171(3):347–368. doi: 10.1002/ar.1091710302. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Meyers J. A., Sanchez D., Elwell L. P., Falkow S. Simple agarose gel electrophoretic method for the identification and characterization of plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid. J Bacteriol. 1976 Sep;127(3):1529–1537. doi: 10.1128/jb.127.3.1529-1537.1976. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Meynell E., Datta N. Mutant drug resistant factors of high transmissibility. Nature. 1967 May 27;214(5091):885–887. doi: 10.1038/214885a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Novick R. P., Clowes R. C., Cohen S. N., Curtiss R., 3rd, Datta N., Falkow S. Uniform nomenclature for bacterial plasmids: a proposal. Bacteriol Rev. 1976 Mar;40(1):168–189. doi: 10.1128/br.40.1.168-189.1976. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Raibaud P., Dickinson A. B., Sacquet E., Charlier H., Mocquot G. La microflore du tube digestif du rat. I. Techniques d'étude et milieux de culture proposés. Ann Inst Pasteur (Paris) 1966 Apr;110(4):568–590. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Sansonetti P., Lafont J. P., Jaffé-Brachet A., Guillot J. F., Chaslus-Dancla E. Parameters controlling interbacterial plasmid spreading in a gnotoxenic chicken gut system: influence of plasmid and bacterial mutations. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1980 Mar;17(3):327–333. doi: 10.1128/aac.17.3.327. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Infection and Immunity are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES