Bifidobacterium adolescentis
Bifidobacterium adolescentis From MicrobeWiki, the student-edited microbiology resource Jump to: navigation, search
Template:Biorealm genus Contents [hide]
* 1 Classification
o 1.1 Higher order taxa
o 1.2 Genus
* 2 Description and significance
* 3 Genome structure
* 4 Cell structure and metabolism
* 5 Ecology
* 6 Pathology
* 7 Application to Biotechnology
* 8 Current Research
* 9 References
[edit] Classification [edit] Higher order taxa
Bacteria; Actinobacteria; Actinobacteridae; Bifidobacteriales; Bifidobacteriaceae; Bifidobacterium; Bifidobacterium adolescentis ATCC 15703 [edit] Genus
Bifidobacterium adolesecentis
Species
B. angulatum; B. animalis; B. asteroides; B. bifidum; B. boum; B. breve; B. catenulatum; B. choerinum; B. coryneforme; B. cuniculi; B. dentium; B. gallicum; B. gallinarum; B indicum; B. longum; B. magnum; B. merycicum; B. minimum; B. pseudocatenulatum; B. pseudolongum; B. psychraerophilum; B. pullorum; B. ruminantium; B. saeculare; B. scardovii; B. simiae; B. subtile; B. thermacidophilum; B. thermophilum; B. urinalis; B. sp.
NCBI: Taxonomy
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Description and significance
Bifidobacterium adolescentis are normal inhabitants of healthy human and animal intestinal tracts. Colonization of B. adolescentis in the gut occurs immediately after birth. Their population in the gut tends to maintain relative stability until late adulthood, where factors such as diet, stress, and antibiotics causes it to decline. This species was first isolated by Tissier in 1899 in the feces of breast-fed newborns. Tissier was the first to promote the therapeutic use of bifidobacteria for treating infant diarrhea by giving them large doses of bifidobacteria orally. Since then, their presence in the gut has been associated with a healthy microbiota. The correlation between the presence of bifidobacteria and gastrointestinal health has produced numerous studies focusing on gastrointestinal ecology and the health-promoting aspects that bifidobacteria are involved in. Obtaining more information about specific strains of bifidobacteria and their roles in the gastrointestinal tract have been on the rise as these probiotic organisms are being used as food additives, such as dairy products. Their name is derived from the observation that these bacteria often exist in a Y-shaped, or bifid form.
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Genome structure
Bifidobacterium adolescentis averages 2.1 Mbp in length. Its form is either an elongated, thin irregular rod-, Y- or V-shape. Containing one membrane and a circular chromosome, B. adolescentis is not mobile. B. adolescentis has 2,089,645 nucleotides, including 1,631 protein-encoding genes and 69 RNA genes. To date, no plasmids have been detected in B. adolescentis.
[edit] Cell structure and metabolism
B. adolescentis is a gram-positive organism. Each species of bifidobacteria contain different components in their cell walls; B. adolescentis' cell wall is made made primarily of murein, containing Lys- or Orn-D-Asp within its peptide chains. Its polysaccharide components include glucose and galactose. Myristic, palmitic, and oleic are the major fatty acids within the cell wall. Leipoteichoic acids on the cell wall's surface function to help the organism adhere to the intestinal wall.
Bifidobacteria are anaerobes (though some can tolerate oxygen, using enzymes superoxide dismutase and catalase in thier defense against the toxic effects of superoxide and hydrogen peroxide). B. adolescentis, like all of the bifidobacteria species, can ferment lactose and grow well in milk, as well as use many carbohydrates. Glucose is fermented using the fructose-6-phosphate pathway which requires the enzyme, fructose-6-phosphoketolase(F6PPK). Nitrogen metabolism is also observed in bifidobacteria, using ammonium sulfate as its nitrogen source.
Bifidobacteria have also been found to synthesize vitamins; B. adolescentispredominantly synthesizes cyanocobalamin and nicotine, as well as thiamin, folic acid, and pyridoxine. B. adolescentis' ability to produce vitamins plays a beneficial role in increasing the nutritional quality of ferments dairy products when added in.
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Ecology
Describe any interactions with other organisms (included eukaryotes), contributions to the environment, effect on environment, etc. [edit]
Pathology
Bifidobacterium adolescentis is a non-pathogenic organism.
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Application to Biotechnology
B. adolescentis synthesizes various B vitamins that are beneficial to the nutritional health of the host organism. Vitamins that are synthesized included thiamin(B1), pyridoxine(B6), folic acid(B9), nicotine, cyanocobalamin(B12), ascorbic acid(Vitamin C), Biotin, and Riboflavin.
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Current Research
1. Bifidobacterium adolescentis as a producer of folate in the colon: testing various strains of Bifidobacterium revealed their ability to produce folate. Experiments analyzing cultured samples of feces showed that the addition of B. adolescentis may increase the folate concentration in a colonic environment. Results provided positive insight into the use of probiotics in preventing folate deficiency in colonic epithelial cells as well as more efficiently protecting the colon against inflammation and cancer.
2. Dietary Factors in inflammatory disease.
3.
Enter summaries of the most recent research here--at least three required
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References
Also see: Bifidobacterium (Microbe Wiki), Bifidobacterium (Wikipedia)
Edited by student of Rachel Larsen and Kit Pogliano
