Brandie Yeik MOLB 2210 – February 10, 2004
The place was packed, the crowd was on their feet. Friday night, at the Immunocompetent arena in Las Virulence, hit record turbidity of 109, which was no surprise to all the sports fans. Described as the fight of the century, Cystic Fibrosis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa battled it out for the Prokaryotic World Boxing championship title. The defending champion, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, looking a pale cream color, entered the ring flaunting the championship belt. P. aeruginosa’s smooth rod shape, and dominating bright blue color showed when coach Direct Stain, prepared and charged him up for the big fight.
A fruity smell filled the arena (Anderson 2004). This was going to be one that would go down in the history books! The opponent, Cystic Fibrosis, was a new and upcoming star. His most impressive fight earlier in the season was his defeat over Exocrine Gland from Lungs, Indiana (Toder 2002). He entered the ring wearing his signature mucous covered shorts.
“LETS GET READY TO RUMIVIMMMBLE!”
In the first few minutes of the first round, P. aeruginosa, was thrown a cheap move by Cystic Fibrosis, and it seemed as if it might be a short fight. Cystic Fibrosis dosed P. aeruginosa with a strong line of antibiotics. Down for what seemed like the final count, P. aeruginosa stood back up and fought till the end of the first round thanks to his trusty capsule that blocked the antibiotics. Back in the corner he was rejuvenated and took to a different tactic for the remainder of the fight. He figured if he could intimidate Cystic Fibrosis maybe he could scare him into loosing the fight. P. aeruginosa would show his true mean side and change into his Gram-negative costume. Totally dyed pink and showing his true cell wall, he took to the center of the ring. This tactic seemed to do its job. Cystic Fibrosis slowly began to weaken. By the end of the second round Cystic Fibrosis was visibly loosing. kV-g.
The third round was the final, and most exciting round. As the two took the center of the ring, Cystic Fibrosis was slow to his feet, and maybe even a little dizzy. It only took one hard upper cut to knock. Cystic Fibrosis to the ground. The crowd went crazy. However, this was not the end of the fight. At least not for P. aeruginosa. As Cystic Fibrosis lay flat on the ground, weak and vulnerable/ P. aeruginosa proceeded to kick and whip the disease with his one flagellum (Van Deiden 1998). The defenseless opponent had no more ability to fight back, and yet the relentless bacteria proceeded to, well, “knock the mucous” out of the defenseless disorder.
This brutal display of fighting continued for many minutes until a brave antibiotic finally took to the ring and ended the slaughter. Comxnents from the two time champion were the following: “I plan to celebrate this victory by going to the local acid-fast staining bar, having a few alcohol washing and see if I can hold my color, I never have been able to hold my color that well, it kinda makes me blue in the face. I have been known as a non-acid fast kinda guy, but after a win like this, I want to celebrate.” It was reported that later in the night he did indeed have a crazy celebration. It was rumored that a. crazed fan poured a full glass of endospore stain on his pants, which, embarrassing for him, revealed he was not wearing any endospores under his cell wall.
References
Anderson, Nester, Pearsall, Roberts. Microbiology: A Human Perspective. McGraw-Hill 2004. p. 250, 61,281-282.
Toby Kenneth. Pseudomonas aeruginosa. University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Bacteriology. 2002.
Van Delden, Iglewski. Cell-to-Cell Signaling and Pseudomonas aeru2inosa Infections. University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. 1998.