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. 1984 Sep;48(3):626–632. doi: 10.1128/aem.48.3.626-632.1984

Characterization of plant polysaccharide- and mucin-fermenting anaerobic bacteria from human feces.

C E Bayliss, A P Houston
PMCID: PMC241577  PMID: 6093693

Abstract

Organisms able to grow on arabinogalactan, pectin, xylan, wheat bran, guar, apple cell walls, and mucin were isolated by enrichment from human feces. The number of polysaccharide fermenters and the properties of the predominant bacteria varied between subjects. The ability to use one polysaccharide was not related to the ability to use others. Some organisms (e.g., Bacteroides spp.) isolated on other substrates also utilized mucin, but were not isolated in the mucin enrichment. The mucin fermenters isolated by enrichment had a very restricted ability to utilize complex polysaccharides and their constituent monosaccharides, suggesting that the presence of plant polysaccharides in the human colon is unlikely to prevent the use of colonic mucin as an energy source by bacteria. Characterization with a range of biochemical tests showed that many of the isolates, but especially the mucin fermenters, did not resemble organisms described previously.

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Selected References

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