Bacterial Infections and Mycoses Commons^™

The Gut Reaction: How The Intestinal Microbiota Respond To Citrobacter Rodentium Colonization, Cassandra Black

Senior Honors Theses

The human intestine hosts a diverse community of bacteria known as the intestinal microbiota. The intestinal microbiota have a symbiotic relationship with the host organism. Current research does not clearly define the effect these commensal microorganisms have on the overall maintenance of gastrointestinal health, including protection from the invasion and pathogenesis of foreign bacteria known as pathogens. EHEC O157:H7 causes severe sickness and can be life-threatening, but is difficult to study in vivo. One challenge is that EHEC does not colonize the preferred animal model for human GI studies: the murine intestine. However, the murine pathogen Citrobacter rodentium has …