The fecal bifidobacterial transcriptome of adults: A microarray approach

7Citations
Citations of this article
44Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

This article is free to access.

Abstract

Bifidobacteria are a predominant group present among adult human intestinal microbiota and are considered to be beneficial to host health. Both the dynamics and functional activity of bifidobacteria from the intestinal tract of four adults, following ingestion of a mix consisting of short chain galactooligosaccharides, long chain fructooligosaccharides and acidic oligosaccharides from pectin hydrolysate (GFP), was investigated. The percentage of total bifidobacteria, monitored by quantitative real time PCR, was not significantly altered but marked species-specific changes occurred in all individuals over time, indicating a dynamic bifidobacterial community. Insight into the functional activity of the bifidobacteria was acquired using a clone library-based microarray comprising the genomes of various bifidobacteria to reveal the bifidobacterial transcriptome within the fecal community. Total RNA from the fecal microbial community was hybridized to the microarray and 310 clones were selected for sequencing which revealed genes belonging to a wide range of functional groups demonstrating substantial metabolic activity. While the intake of GFP did not have a significant effect on the overall change in gene expression, 82 genes showed a significant change. Most of the predicted genes were involved in metabolism of carbohydrates of plant origin, house keeping functions such as DNA replication and transcription, followed by membrane transport of a wide variety of substrates including sugars and metals. Other genes were involved in nucleotide metabolism, amino acid metabolism, environmental information processing and cellular processes and signalling. A smaller number of genes were involved in general metabolism, glycan metabolism, energy metabolism, lipid metabolism and cell surface. These results support the notion that bifidobacteria utilize mainly indigestible polysaccharides as their main source of energy and biosynthesis of cellular components. © 2011 Landes Bioscience.

References Powered by Scopus

Identification of common molecular subsequences

7726Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

A comparison of normalization methods for high density oligonucleotide array data based on variance and bias

6740Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Metagenomic analysis of the human distal gut microbiome

3831Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Cited by Powered by Scopus

Bacteria as vitamin suppliers to their host: A gut microbiota perspective

1128Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

The first thousand days - intestinal microbiology of early life: Establishing a symbiosis

259Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Dynamics of gut microbiota in autoimmune lupus

240Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Klaassens, E. S., Ben-Amor, K., Vriesema, A., Vaughan, E. E., & de Vos, W. M. (2011). The fecal bifidobacterial transcriptome of adults: A microarray approach. Gut Microbes, 2(4), 217–226. https://doi.org/10.4161/gmic.2.4.16798

Readers' Seniority

Tooltip

PhD / Post grad / Masters / Doc 15

43%

Researcher 13

37%

Professor / Associate Prof. 6

17%

Lecturer / Post doc 1

3%

Readers' Discipline

Tooltip

Agricultural and Biological Sciences 18

55%

Medicine and Dentistry 5

15%

Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Bi... 5

15%

Immunology and Microbiology 5

15%

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free