Skip to main page content
U.S. flag
See More

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2017 Apr;11(4):841-852.
doi: 10.1038/ismej.2016.176. Epub 2017 Jan 3.

Faecalibacterium prausnitzii: from microbiology to diagnostics and prognostics

Mireia Lopez-Siles  1 , Sylvia H Duncan  2 , L Jesús Garcia-Gil  1 , Margarita Martinez-Medina  1
Affiliations
Review

Faecalibacterium prausnitzii: from microbiology to diagnostics and prognostics

Mireia Lopez-Siles et al. ISME J. 2017 Apr.

Abstract

There is an increasing interest in Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, one of the most abundant bacterial species found in the gut, given its potentially important role in promoting gut health. Although some studies have phenotypically characterized strains of this species, it remains a challenge to determine which factors have a key role in maintaining the abundance of this bacterium in the gut. Besides, phylogenetic analysis has shown that at least two different F. prausnitzii phylogroups can be found within this species and their distribution is different between healthy subjects and patients with gut disorders. It also remains unknown whether or not there are other phylogroups within this species, and also if other Faecalibacterium species exist. Finally, many studies have shown that F. prausnitzii abundance is reduced in different intestinal disorders. It has been proposed that F. prausnitzii monitoring may therefore serve as biomarker to assist in gut diseases diagnostics. In this mini-review, we aim to serve as an overview of F. prausnitzii phylogeny, ecophysiology and diversity. In addition, strategies to modulate the abundance of F. prausnitzii in the gut as well as its application as a biomarker for diagnostics and prognostics of gut diseases are discussed. This species may be a useful potential biomarker to assist in ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease discrimination.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Biomarker of choice to discriminate between conditions. Selected pair wise comparisons of conditions are represented taking into account the difficulty of diagnosis or the risk of progression. The four options of biomarkers (F. prausnitzii, the two phylogroups or the F. prausnitzii-E. coli index calculated as (Lopez-Siles et al., 2014)), have been ranked according to their discriminative power estimated as the sum of all the AUC values for all the pair wise comparisons taking into account all the conditions. For each comparison, the highest AUC value achieved is depicted. H, healthy control group; F, total F. prausnitzii load; PHG I, F. prausnitzii phylogroup I load; PHG II, F. prausnitzii phylogroup II load; F-E index, F. prausnitzii- E. coli index; AUC, area under the ROC curve; ROC, receiver operating characteristic curve.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Biomarker of choice to discriminate between IBD locations. Selected pair wise comparisons of conditions are represented taking into account the difficulty of diagnosis or the risk of progression. The four options of biomarkers (F. prausnitzii, the two phylogroups or F. prausnitzii-E. coli index calculated as (Lopez-Siles et al., 2014)), have been ranked according to their discriminative power estimated as the sum of all the AUC values for all the pair wise comparisons taking into account all the conditions. For each comparison, the highest AUC value achieved is depicted. E1, Ulcerative proctitis, E2, Distal or left-sided UC; E3, pancolitis or universal colitis; I-CD, ileal CD; IC-CD, ileocolonic CD; C-CD, colonic CD; F, total F. prausnitzii load; PHG I, F. prausnitzii phylogroup I load; PHG II, F. prausnitzii phylogroup II load; F-E index, F. prausnitzii- E. coli index; AUC, area under the ROC curve; ROC, receiver operating characteristic curve.
Figure 3
Figure 3
F. prausnitzii populations in healthy gut and in patients with IBD. In IBD patients, alteration of gut environment may affect F. prausnitzii population composition and load. These differences can be monitored to discriminate within IBD subtypes.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Albenberg L, Esipova TV, Judge CP, Bittinger K, Chen J, Laughlin A et al. (2014). Correlation between intraluminal oxygen gradient and radial partitioning of intestinal microbiota. Gastroenterology 147: 1055–1063 e1058. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Archer S, Meng S, Wu J, Johnson J, Tang R, Hodin R. (1998). Butyrate inhibits colon carcinoma cell growth through two distinct pathways. Surgery 124: 248–253. - PubMed
    1. Balamurugan R, Rajendiran E, George S, Samuel GV, Ramakrishna BS. (2008). Real-time polymerase chain reaction quantification of specific butyrate-producing bacteria, Desulfovibrio and Enterococcus faecalis in the feces of patients with colorectal cancer. J Gastroenterol Hepatol 23: 1298–1303. - PubMed
    1. Barcenilla A, Pryde SE, Martin JC, Duncan SH, Stewart CS, Henderson C et al. (2000). Phylogenetic relationships of butyrate-producing bacteria from the human gut. Appl Environ Microbiol 66: 1654–1661. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Barkas F, Liberopoulos E, Kei A, Elisaf M. (2013). Electrolyte and acid-base disorders in inflammatory bowel disease. Ann Gastroenterol 26: 23–28. - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms