To investigate if EAEC naturally expressing Pic is capable of degrading the gel-like MUC2 barrier during infection, we infected colonoid monolayers derived from three subjects (70C, 75C and 80C) with wild-type EAEC042 (042), 042pic mutant and 042pic complemented with a plasmid encoding Pic (042pic-comp) at 37 °C over 6 h. The gene discussed is MUC2; the disease is infection.