Publication Date
2020
Journal or Book Title
Microorganisms
Abstract
Bifidobacterium longum colonizes mammalian gastrointestinal tracts where it could metabolize host-indigestible oligosaccharides. Although B. longum strains are currently segregated into three subspecies that reflect common metabolic capacities and genetic similarity, heterogeneity within subspecies suggests that these taxonomic boundaries may not be completely resolved. To address this, the B. longum pangenome was analyzed from representative strains isolated from a diverse set of sources. As a result, the B. longum pangenome is open and contains almost 17,000 genes, with over 85% of genes found in ≤28 of 191 strains. B. longum genomes share a small core gene set of only ~500 genes, or ~3% of the total pangenome. Although the individual B. longum subspecies pangenomes share similar relative abundances of clusters of orthologous groups, strains show inter- and intrasubspecies differences with respect to carbohydrate utilization gene content and growth phenotypes.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms8010007
Volume
8
Special Issue
Bifidobacteria: Insights from Ecology to Genomics of a Key Microbial Group of the Mammalian Gut Microbiota
Issue
1
License
UMass Amherst Open Access Policy
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Albert, Korin; Rani, Asha; and Sela, David A., "Comparative Pangenomics of the Mammalian Gut Commensal Bifidobacterium longum" (2020). Microorganisms. 38.
https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms8010007