Cited by 856Gut microbiota and healthMicrobial Metabolites in Food BiotechnologyProbiotics and Fermented Foods

Two Routes of Metabolic Cross-Feeding between Bifidobacterium adolescentis and Butyrate-Producing Anaerobes from the Human Gut

Open access
Belenguer, Alvaro, Duncan, Sylvia H., Calder, A. Graham, Holtrop, Grietje, Louis, Petra, Lobley, Gerald E., Flint, Harry J.·2006·Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Abstract

Dietary carbohydrates have the potential to influence diverse functional groups of bacteria within the human large intestine. Of 12 Bifidobacterium strains of human gut origin from seven species tested, four grew in pure culture on starch and nine on fructo-oligosaccharides. The potential for metabolic cross-feeding between Bifidobacterium adolescentis and lactate-utilizing, butyrate-producing Firmicute bacteria related to Eubacterium hallii and Anaerostipes caccae was investigated in vitro. E. hallii L2-7 and A. caccae L1-92 failed to grow on starch in pure culture, but in coculture with B. adolescentis L2-32 butyrate was formed, indicating cross-feeding of metabolites to the lactate utilizers. Studies with [ 13 C]lactate confirmed carbon flow from lactate, via acetyl coenzyme A, to butyrate both in pure cultures of E. hallii and in cocultures with B. adolescentis . Similar results were obtained in cocultures involving B. adolescentis DSM 20083 with fructo-oligosaccharides as the substrate. Butyrate formation was also stimulated, however, in cocultures of B. adolescentis L2-32 grown on starch or fructo-oligosaccharides with Roseburia sp. strain A2-183, which produces butyrate but does not utilize lactate. This is probably a consequence of the release by B. adolescentis of oligosaccharides that are available to Roseburia sp. strain A2-183. We conclude that two distinct mechanisms of metabolic cross-feeding between B. adolescentis and butyrate-forming bacteria may operate in gut ecosystems, one due to consumption of fermentation end products (lactate and acetate) and the other due to cross-feeding of partial breakdown products from complex substrates.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1128/aem.72.5.3593-3599.2006

Cites

47 of 47 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

We couldn’t retrieve this paper’s full text, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Data showing butyrate treatment protects against age-related muscle atrophy supports the idea that pre- and/or probiotic supplementation may prophylactically moderate aging muscle loss.

    “data showing butyrate (associated with Bifidobacterium [72]) treatment to protect against age-related muscle atrophy [73] supports the idea that pre- and/or probiotic supplementation, which is shown to increase the abundance of Bifidobacterium and butyrate producers in older individuals [74, 75], may prophylactically moderate aging muscle loss.”

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Belenguer, A., Duncan, S. H., Calder, A. G., Holtrop, G., Louis, P., Lobley, G. E., & Flint, H. J.
Affiliations
  • Rowett Research Institute
  • Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland (GB)
Venue
Applied and Environmental Microbiology
Published
2006-05
Volume
72
Issue
5
Pages
3593-3599
ISSN
  • 0099-2240 (ISSN-L)
  • 1098-5336
OpenAlex
W2064837899
Cited by
856
References
47
Citations by year
2026: 63 · 2025: 55 · 2024: 53 · 2023: 51 · 2022: 75 · 2021: 57 · 2020: 52 · 2019: 58 · 2018: 62 · 2017: 59 · 2016: 34 · 2015: 31 · 2014: 30 · 2013: 33 · 2012: 29
FWCI
8.85
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Applied and Environmental Microbiology (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DIGITAL.CSIC (Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Caja de Ahorros de la Inmaculada de Aragón
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Gut microbiota and health
  • Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Microbial Metabolites in Food Biotechnology
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Probiotics and Fermented Foods
Keywords
cross-feeding, Bifidobacterium adolescentis, butyrate production, Eubacterium hallii, Anaerostipes caccae, Roseburia, lactate utilization, fructooligosaccharides, starch fermentation, gut microbiota, carbon flux, acetate, oligosaccharide release, co-culture
MeSH terms
Acetates, Bacteria, Anaerobic, Bifidobacterium, Butyrates, Culture Media, Digestive System, Fatty Acids, Fructose, Humans, Lactates, Oligosaccharides, Ecosystem

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review