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

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…

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