Mucosa-associated bacteria in the human gastrointestinal tract are uniformly distributed along the colon and differ from the community recovered from feces.

ABSTRACT: The human gastrointestinal (GI) tract harbors a complex community of bacterial cells in the mucosa, lumen, and feces. Since most attention has been focused on bacteria present in feces, knowledge about the mucosa-associated bacterial communities in different parts of the colon is limited. In this study, the bacterial communities in feces and biopsy samples from the ascending, transverse, and descending colons of 10 individuals were analyzed by using a 16S rRNA approach. Flow cytometric analysis indicated that 10(5) to 10(6) bacteria were present in the biopsy samples. To visualize the diversity of the predominant and the Lactobacillus group community, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis of 16S rRNA gene amplicons was performed. DGGE analysis and similarity index compari

SUBMITTER: Zoetendal EG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC126800 | biostudies-literature | 2002 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature