A team of scientists led by Dr. Ulrich Kleinekathöfer, professor of Theoretical Physics at Constructor University in Bremen, has now discovered how B12 is absorbed by certain intestinal bacteria. Published in the journal ...
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 2, 2023
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(PhysOrg.com) -- In one of those freak accidents that sometimes occur in science, where someone is looking at something for one purpose and finds another for it, Dan O'Sullivan has found a use for a byproduct of harmless ...
Intestinal bacteria can create an electric current, according to a new study from Lund University in Sweden. The results are valuable for the development of drugs, but also for the production of bioenergy, for example.
Cell & Microbiology
Sep 18, 2018
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RUDN veterinarians studied how the intestinal microbiota in cats changes during dysbacteriosis. The patterns obtained will help to make a more accurate diagnosis and select an adequate treatment. The results are published ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Jul 18, 2022
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26
In some parts of the world, many small children become infected with severe diarrhea which often proves fatal. The condition is usually caused by strains of Escherichia coli (commonly known as E. coli) bacteria, and bacteria ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 14, 2015
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People who are overweight may have different gut bacteria from those in their slender fellow human beings. This is the contention of Willem de Vos, professor of Microbiology at Wageningen University, The Netherlands, in his ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 18, 2011
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We are pursuing the dream of eternal life. We fast to stay healthy. And each year, we spend billions of dollars on treatment to make sure we stay alive. But some people turn 100 years old all by themselves. Why is that?
Cell & Microbiology
May 31, 2023
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82
The types of gut bacteria that populate the guts of primates depend on the species of the host as well as where the host lives and what they eat. A study led by Howard Ochman at Yale University examines the gut microbial ...
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 16, 2010
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0
(Phys.org) —Can scientists rid malaria from the Third World by simply feeding algae genetically engineered with a vaccine? That's the question biologists at UC San Diego sought to answer after they demonstrated last May ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 19, 2013
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A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in Israel has discovered the means by which salmonella bacteria use a metabolite to reprogram the Krebs cycle to promote their own survival. In their paper published ...
The gut flora consists of the microorganisms that normally live in the digestive tract of animals. The gut flora includes much of the human flora. The term "gut flora" is interchangeable with intestinal microflora and intestinal microbiota.
The average human body, consisting of about 1013 (10,000,000,000,000 or about ten trillion) cells, has about ten times that number of microorganisms in the intestines. The metabolic activity performed by these bacteria is equal to that of a virtual organ causing some to describe the gut bacteria as a "forgotten" organ.
Bacteria make up most of the flora in the colon and 60% of the dry mass of feces. Somewhere between 300 and 1000 different species live in the gut, with most estimates at about 500. However, it is probable that 99% of the bacteria come from about 30 or 40 species. Fungi and protozoa also make up a part of the gut flora, but little is known about their activities.
Research suggests that the relationship between gut flora and humans is not merely commensal (a non-harmful coexistence), but rather is a mutualistic, symbiotic relationship. Though people can survive with no gut flora, the microorganisms perform a host of useful functions, such as fermenting unused energy substrates, training the immune system, preventing growth of harmful species, regulating the development of the gut, producing vitamins for the host (such as biotin and vitamin K), and producing hormones to direct the host to store fats. However, in certain conditions, some species are thought to be capable of causing disease by producing infection or increasing cancer risk for the host.
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