Blautia is a genus of anaerobic bacteria with probiotic characteristics that occur widely in the feces and intestines of mammals. Based on phenotypic and phylogenetic analyses, some species in the genera Clostridium and Ruminococcus have been reclassified as Blautia, so to date, there are 20 new species with valid published names in this genus. An extensive body of research has recently focused on the probiotic effects of this genus, such as biological transformation and its ability to regulate host health and alleviate metabolic syndrome. This article reviews the origin and biological characteristics of Blautia and the factors that affect its abundance and discusses its role in host health, thus laying a theoretical foundation for the development of new functional microorganisms with probiotic properties.

As a long-standing biomedical model, rats have been frequently used in studies exploring the correlations between gastrointestinal (GI) bacterial biota and diseases. In the present study, luminal and mucosal samples taken along the longitudinal axis of the rat digestive tract were subjected to 16S rRNA gene sequencing-based analysis to determine the baseline microbial composition. Results showed that the community diversity increased from the upper to lower GI segments and that the stratification of microbial communities as well as shift of microbial metabolites were driven by biogeographic location. A greater proportion of lactate-producing bacteria (such as Lactobacillus, Turicibacter and Streptococcus) were found in the stomach and small intestine, while anaerobic Lachnospiraceae and Ruminococcaceae, fermenting carbohydrates and plant aromatic compounds, constituted the bulk of the large-intestinal core microbiota where topologically distinct co-occurrence networks were constructed for the adjacent luminal and mucosal compartments. When comparing the GI microbiota from different hosts, we found that the rat microbial biogeography might represent a new reference, distinct from other murine animals. Our study provides the first comprehensive characterization of the rat GI microbiota landscape for the research community, laying the foundation for better understanding and predicting the disease-related alterations in microbial communities.

In this study, C57BL/6J mice were fed diets supplemented with different proportions of lactulose (0%, 5%, and 15%) for 2 weeks to study its effects on the luminal and mucosal microbiota. The luminal and mucosal samples of cecum and colon were investigated. After high-lactulose treatment (15%), pH of the luminal contents decreased from 6.90-7.72 to 5.95-6.21 from the cecum to distal colon, and the amount of total short-chain fatty acids in the cecum was significantly increased. The luminal content was mostly dominated by Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, and Bacteroidetes, while the mucus was dominated by Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, and Bacteroidetes. The abundance of Actinobacteria was significantly increased in the content, and Proteobacteria was the most abundant phylum (∼50%) in the mucus after high-lactulose treatment. At the genus level, Bifidobacterium and Akkermansia were both significantly increased in the content, and Helicobacter was the most abundant in the mucus.

Fructooligosaccharides (FOS) are a well-known class of prebiotic and are considered to selectively stimulate the growth of bifidobacteria in the gut. Previous studies focused on the growth stimulation of Bifidobacterium, but they did not further investigate the bifidobacterial composition and the specific species that were stimulated. In this study, mice were fed with FOS in different doses for four weeks and the composition of fecal microbiota, in particular Bifidobacterium, was analyzed by sequencing the V3–V4 region and the groEL gene on the MiSeq platform, respectively. In the high-dose group, the relative abundance of Actinobacteria was significantly increased, which was mainly contributed by Bifidobacterium. At the genus level, the relative abundances of Blautia and Coprococcus were also significantly increased. Through the groEL sequencing, 14 species of Bifidobacterium were identified, among which B. pseudolongum was most abundant. After FOS treatment, B. pseudolongum became almost the sole bifidobacterial species (>95%). B. pseudolongum strains were isolated and demonstrated their ability to metabolize FOS by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Therefore, we inferred that FOS significantly stimulated the growth of B. pseudolongum in mice. Further investigations are needed to reveal the mechanism of selectiveness between FOS and B. pseudolongum, which would aid our understanding of the basic principles between dietary carbohydrates and host health.

Fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) are usually regarded as a type of prebiotic, favorably stimulating the growth of bifidobacteria and lactobacilli. However, they are not the specific substrates for these target species, and other bacteria, such as Streptococcus, Escherichia, and Clostridium, have been shown to be able to utilize FOS. Previous studies have mainly investigated only a few bacteria groups, and few reports analyzed the global effects of FOS on intestinal microbial communities. In this study the effects of FOS on gut bacteria in mice were investigated through a 16S rRNA metagenomic analysis. In the FOS-low group, the abundance of Actinobacteria significantly increased and that of Bacteroidetes decreased after FOS diet (5%) for 3 weeks. In the FOS-high group, Enterococcus was promoted and levels of Bifidobacterium and Olsenella both notably increased after FOS diet (25%) and the microbiota tended to revert to initial structure 2 weeks after FOS treatment ceased. The most striking observation was that Olsenella became a dominant genus comparable with Bifidobacterium after FOS treatment, and one strain of Olsenella, isolated from mice feces, was confirmed, for the first time, to be capable of using FOS. The results indicated that metagenomic analysis was helpful to reveal the FOS effects on the global composition of gut communities and new target for future studies.

This research assessed the anti-inflammatory and hepatoprotective properties of inosine and the associated mechanism. Inosine pretreatment significantly reduced the secretion of several inflammatory factors and serum alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate amino transferase (AST) levels in a dose-dependent manner compared with the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) group. In LPS-treated mice, inosine pretreatment significantly reduced the ALT and malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration and significantly elevated the antioxidant enzyme activity. Furthermore, inosine pretreatment significantly altered the relative abundance of the genera, Bifidobacterium, Lachnospiraceae UCG-006, and Muribaculum. Correlation analysis showed that Bifidobacterium and Lachnospiraceae UCG-006 were positively related to the cecal short-chain fatty acids but negatively related to the serum IL-6 and hepatic AST and ALT levels. Notably, inosine pretreatment significantly modulated the hepatic TLR4, MYD88, NF-κB, iNOS, COX2, AMPK, Nfr2, and IκB-α expression. These results suggested that inosine pretreatment alters the intestinal microbiota structure and improves LPS-induced acute liver damage and inflammation through modulating the TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway.

Fructooligosaccharides (FOS) are one of the most studied prebiotics, selectively stimulating the growth of health-promoting bacteria in the host. However, there is increasing evidence that commensal gut bacteria, such as Bacteroides fragilis, Clostridium butyricum, Enterobacter cloacae, and even the pathogenic Escherichia coli BEN2908, are also able to metabolize FOS in vitro, and in some cases, FOS displayed adverse effects. Therefore, it is necessary to identify FOS-metabolizing species that are present in the gut. Unlike previous studies focusing on individual strains, this study used the traditional culture method combined with an alignment search on the gut bacteria database established from the Human Microbiome Project (HMP). The alignment results showed that homologous proteins for FOS transporters and glycosidases were distributed in 237 of the 453 strains of gut bacteria. La506 msmK encoding the ATP-binding protein and Aec45 fosGH1 encoding glycoside hydrolase were most widely distributed, in 155 and 55 strains, respectively. Seven of eight strains with both transporters and glycosidases were proven to be capable of metabolizing FOS, while five strains without either transporters or glycosidases were not. Fifteen species isolated from human feces and 11 species from the alignment search were identified to be FOS-metabolizing, of which Cronobacter sakazakii, Marvinbryantia formatexigens, Ruminococcus gnavus, and Weissella paramesenteroides are reported here for the first time. Thus, alignment search combined with the culture method is an effective method for obtaining a global view of the FOS-metabolizing bacteria in the gut and will be helpful in further investigating the relationship between FOS and human gut bacteria.

Lactulose has been known as a prebiotic that can selectively stimulate the growth of beneficial bifidobacteria and lactobacilli. Recent studies have indicated that Streptococcus mutans, Clostridium perfringens, and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii are also able to utilize lactulose. However, the previous studies mainly focused on the utilization of lactulose by individual strains, and few studies were designed to identify the species that could utilize lactulose among gut microbiota. This study aimed to identify lactulose-metabolizing bacteria in the human gut, using in silico and traditional culture methods. The prediction results suggested that genes for the transporters and glycosidases of lactulose are well distributed in the genomes of 222 of 453 strains of gastrointestinal-tract bacteria. The screening assays identified 35 species with the ability to utilize lactulose, of which Cronobacter sakazakii, Enterococcus faecium, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Pseudomonas putida were reported for the first time to be capable of utilizing lactulose. In addition, significant correlations between lactulose and galactooligosaccharide metabolism were found. Thus, more attention should be paid to bacteria besides bifidobacteria and lactobacilli to further investigate the relationship between functional oligosaccharides and gut bacteria.