Shigella flexneri strains produce bacteriocins active against members of the human microbial intestinal flora.

The principal aim of this work was to detect the bacteriocinogenic capacity of S. flexneri strains on members of the human intestinal flora. A total of 49 bacteriocinogenic S. flexneri strains were isolated from individuals of both sexes and different ages. The bacteriocins were detected by means of the drop method using E. coli and B. fragilis as target strains. The serotypes of the S. flexneri were determined. The producer capacity of bacteriocins was analysed in 10 different colonies of the same cellular clone and also the arbitrary units were determined. The highest number of bacteriocinogenic S. flexneri strains were obtained from diarrhoeal individuals from 0-10 years old and the S. flexneri serotype 2a was the most abundant. It was demonstrated that E. coli and B. fragilis isolated from the normal intestinal flora of healthy individuals were susceptible to the bacteriocinogenic S. flexneri strains. By means of the determination of arbitrary units per ml of the bacteriocin, it was demonstrated that colonies from a single colony isolate of a same clone of bacteriocinogenic S. flexneri produce different quantities of bacteriocin.