noun
- Plural of colicin; proteins produced by certain bacteria (especially E. coli) that inhibit or kill closely related bacterial strains.
Usage: microbiology; technical term; usually used in plural form
Examples
- Colicines are bacteriocins that play a role in bacterial competition within the gut microbiome.
- The production of colicines gives some bacterial strains a competitive advantage over others.
- Researchers studied how colicines affect the survival of susceptible bacterial populations.
- Different strains of E. coli produce distinct colicines with varying antimicrobial properties.