Bacteroides xylanisolvens
Classification
Higher order taxa
Bacteria; Phylum; Class; Order; Family; Genus Bacteria; Bacteroidetes; Bacteroidetes; Bacteroides; Bacteroidales; Bacteroidaceae; Bacteroides
Species
Bacteroides xylanisolvens
Description and significance
Bacteroides xylanivsolvens is a gram negative, non-sporulating, rod shaped bacteria that ranges in size from 1.8 to 2.5 nm long and 0.2 to 0.3 nm wide. They are found to have no flagella, making them a non-motile species. ''Bacteroides'' are the second most abundant genus in the human intestine. The human intestine is the only location that Bacteroides xylanivsolvens has been isolated. The ideal growing conditions for Bacteroides xylanivsolvens are a temperature of 38C and a pH of 6.8. They are also strictly obligately anaerobic and don’t use cytochrome oxidase or catalase. There are currently no known opportunistic pathogenic strains of Bacteroides xylanivsolvens. Bacteroides xylanivsolvens is one of the species involved in breaking down xylan in the human gut, along with Bacteroides ovatus and ''Bacteroides fragilis'' subspecies A. However, Bacteroides xylanivsolvens do not show the ability to degrade starch unlike most Bacteroides species.
Cell structure and metabolism
Bacteroides xylanivsolvens produce by-products such as acetate, succinate, and propionate. These are all the by-products of xylose and sugar fermentation. Bacteroides xylanivsolvens is able to produce acid from many sugars such as glucose, mannitol, sucrose, glyercol, fructose, galactose, and melibiose.
Current Research
Bacteroides xylanivsolvens may possess probiotic qualities. In order to be a probiotic the bacterial strain has to be considered ambiguously safe. With Bacteroides xylanivsolvens, it is free of the genes that biosynthesize bft and PS A. Both of these are involved in making ''Bacteroides fragilis'' a pathogen. Bacteroides xylanivsolvens is also unable to attach to the gut, which eliminates colonization in the intestines. It also has no plasmid material in the genome of the cell, making it an even safer probiotic option. All of these qualities of Bacteroides xylanivsolvens show promise of it as a probiotic option.
References
http://ijs.sgmjournals.org/content/58/4/1008.full.pdf Takai, K., Sugai, A., Itoh, T., and Horikoshi, K. "Bacteroides xylanisolvens gen. nov., sp. nov., a xylan-degrading bacterium isolated from human faeces". International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. 2008. Volume 58. p. 1008-1013. Ulsemer, Philippe, et al. "Preliminary Safety Evaluation Of A New Bacteroides Xylanisolvens Isolate." Applied & Environmental Microbiology 78.2 (2012): 528-535. Academic Search Complete. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.
Edited by Sage Darling, student of Rachel Larsen at the University of Southern Maine
