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SummarySegmented, filamentous bacteria (SFBs) form a group of bacteria with similar morphology and are identified on the basis of their morphology only. The relationships of these organisms are unclear as the application of formal taxonomic criteria is impossible currently due to the lack of an in vitro technique to culture SFBs. The intestine of laboratory animals such as mice, rats, chickens, dogs, cats and pigs is known to harbour SFBs. To see whether this extends to other animal species, intestines from 18 vertebrate species, including man, were examined. SFBs were detected with light microscopy in the cat, dog, rhesus monkey, crab-eating macaque, domestic fowl, South African claw-footed toad, carp, man, laboratory mouse and rat, wood mouse, jackdaw and magpie. These results suggest that non-pathogenic SFBs are ubiquitous in the animal kingdom. Among apparently identical animals, there was considerable variation in the degree of SFB colonization. It is suggested that SFB colonization could serve as a criterion of standardization of laboratory animals.

Segmented filamentous bacteria (SFBs) are apathogenic autochthonous bacteria in the murine small intestine that preferentially attach to Peyer's patch epithelium. SFBs have never been cultured in vitro. We have studied the effects of SFBs on the immune system of the host. Mice monoassociated with SFBs were compared with germ-free mice and with mice without SFBs but with a specific-pathogen-free (SPF) gut flora. SFBs versus no microbial flora raised the number of lymphoid cells in the lamina propria of the ileal and cecal mucosa, raised the number of immunoglobulin A (IgA)-secreting cells in the intestinal mucosa, produced elevated IgA titers in serum and intestinal secretions, and enhanced the concanavalin A-induced proliferative responses of mesenteric lymph node cells. The SPF flora had effects similar to but less pronounced than those mediated by SFBs. The results indicate that SFBs stimulate the mucosal immune system to a greater extent than do other autochthonous gut bacteria.

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Segmented, filamentous bacteria (SFBs) are autochthonous, apathogenic bacteria, occuring in the ileum of mice and rats. Although the application of formal taxonomic criteria is imposible due to the lack of an in vitro technique to culture SFBs, microbes with a similar morphology, found in the intestine of a wide range of vertebrate and invertebrate host species, are considered to be related. SFBs are firmly attached to the epithelial cells of the distal ileal mucosa, their preferential ecological niche being the epithelium covering the Peyer's patches. Electron microscopic studies have demonstrated a considerable morphological diversity of SFBs, which may relate to different stages of a life cycle. Determinants of SFB colonization in vivo are host species, genotypical and phenotypical characteristics of the host, diet composition, environmental stress and antimicrobial drugs. SFBs can survive in vitro incubation, but do not multiply. On the basis of their apathogenic character and intimate relationship with the host, it is suggested that SFBs contribute to development and/or maintenance of host resistance to enteropathogens.