J Food Microbiol 150, 59–65.Ī point of clarification: The distinction between bacteriocin and toxin has to do with the target. Outgrowth inhibition of Clostridium beijerinkii spores by a bacteriocin-producing lactic culture in ovine milk cheese. Yersinia pestis, the plague bacterium, also makes bacteriocins (called pesticins in this case) designed to kill competing strains of its own species ( Fig. The genes for colicins are normally carried on plasmids, and many of these plasmids are commonly used in molecular biology and genetic engineering (see Chapter 3). For example, many strains of Escherichia coli deploy a wide variety of bacteriocins (referred to as colicins) intended to kill other strains of E. Similarly, bacteria synthesize toxic proteins known as bacteriocins to kill their relatives because closely related strains of bacteria are likelier to compete with each other. Instead, they make antibiotics to kill off other bacteria that are competing for the same habitat or resources. While humanity finds antibiotics incredibly useful in our battle against infectious disease, bacteria did not create them for our benefit. We therefore touch only briefly on the natural history of biological warfare.īacteria are particularly adept at biological warfare. The Natural History of Biological WarfareĪn entire textbook could be filled with examples of organisms that employ toxins to kill other organisms.

Modern warfare 3 infection