Those that like this stuff might be interested by this.
Gut microbes browse along gene buffet:
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140807145744.htm----------
Now that I think about
it MUC2 (the mucin, not the gene) might be an example of this. In germ free mice engineered without MUC2 mucin there is no firm inner layer of mucus so bacteria come in contact with the epithelium and give rise to Ulcerative Coltis like symptoms.
In contrast to this, in regular germ free mice that can and do produce MUC2 (the mucin) - the inner layer of mucus is still very thin and they are healthy and normal. As soon as you add not bacteria itself, but simply just bacterial LPS (lipopolysaccharides) which is part of the outer surface of almost all gram negative bacteria - all of a sudden within 40 minutes the first layer becomes thick and the same as normal conventional mice.
So in UC there seems to all of a sudden be a problem with this. I really don't think people with UC have always had thin or no mucus otherwise they would always have inflammation and ulcers from birth.
So in relation to the above article MUC2 (the gene) is available in intestinal epithelial cells, but perhaps for some reason the bacteria present are not allowing it to be expressed to produce MUC2 (the mucin).
It's tough to wrap the brain around the article as well.