The transition of intestinal microbiota with age has been well described in humans. However, the age-related changes in intestinal microbiota of cats have not been well studied. In the present study, we investigated the composition of intestinal microbiota of cats in 5 different age groups (pre-weanling, weanling, young, aged, senile) with a culture-based method. For lactobacilli and bifidobact...

BACKGROUND Widely considered probiotic organisms, Bifidobacteria are common inhabitants of the alimentary tract of animals including insects. Bifidobacteria identified from the honey bee are found in larval guts and throughout the alimentary tract, but attain their greatest abundance in the adult hind gut. To further understand the role of Bifidobacteria in honey bees, we sequenced two strains ...

The initial establishment of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and bifidobacteria in the newborn and the role of breast-milk as a source of these microorganisms are not yet well understood. The establishment of these microorganisms during the first 3 months of life in 20 vaginally delivered breast-fed full-term infants, and the presence of viable Bifidobacterium in the corresponding breast-milk sample...

Bifidobacteria are colonizers of the human gut, where they are interacting with their host as well as with other members of the intestinal microbiota. Teichoic acids (TAs) have previously been shown to play an important role in modulating microbe-host interactions in the human gut. However, so far, there is a paucity of information regarding the presence of TAs in the cell envelope of bifidobac...