Review Article

Unified Theory of Bacterial Sialometabolism: How and Why Bacteria Metabolize Host Sialic Acids

Table 1

Some of the bacterial species isolated from the healthy human intestine.

Microorganism (recent designation) valueaMaximum percent identityb

Gram-negative anaerobic rods
 Bacteroides asaccharolyticuslyitalics (Porphyromonas asaccharolyticus) 0.06343% (46/106)
 Bacteroides capillosus 4 × 10−624% (43/180)
 Bacteroides distasonis (Parabacteroides distasonis) 3 × 10−525% (50/203)
 Bacteroides eggerthii 3 × 10−523% (70/311)
 Bacteroides fragilis 8 × 10−626% (58/222)
 Bacteroides furcosus No similarity found
 Bacteroides hypermegas (Megamonas hypermegale) 0.02332% (23/93)
 Bacteroides melaninogenicus subsp. mel. (Prevotella melaninogenica) 0.00225% (30/120)
 Bacteroides multiacidus (Mitsuokella multacida) 0.00435% (16/46)
 Bacteroides ovalis No sequence available
 Bacteroides ovatus 2 × 10−2928% (83/294)
 Bacteroides praeacutus (Tissierella praeacuta) 0.8850% (7/14)
 Bacteroides putredinis (Alistipes putredinis) 0.00231% (36/117)
 Bacteroides ruminicola subsp. brevis No similarity found
 Bacteroides ruminicola subsp. ruminicola (Prevotella ruminicola) 1 × 10−2728% (80/287)
 Bacteroides splanchinicus (Odoribacter splanchnicus) 5 × 10−425% (33/131)
 Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron 6 × 10−3028% (84/305)
 Bacteroides uniformis 2 × 10−2326% (80/314)
 Bacteroides vulgatus 1 × 10−2828% (82/297)
 Desulfomonas pigra (Desulfovibrio piger) 0.00131% (15/48)
 Leptotrichia buccalis 0.00227% (30/111)
 Fusobacterium mortiferum 0.00127% (33/124)
 Fusobacterium naviforme No similarity found
 Fusobacterium necrogenes No similarity found
 Fusobacterium nucleatum 0.01444% (11/25)
 Fusobacterium plauti (F. plautii) 0.00339% (17/44)
 Fusobacterium prausnitzii (Faecalibacterium prausnitzii) 8 × 10−522% (33/153)
 Fusobacterium russi (F. russii) None found
 Fusobacterium symbiosum No sequence available
 Fusobacterium varium 8 × 10−7940% (124/310)
 Butyrivibrio fibriosolvens 4 × 10−522% (29/131)
 Sucinimonas amylolytia No sequence available
 Vibrio succinogenes 0.05531% (25/81)
Gram-positive anaerobic rods
 Bifidobacterium adolescentis 0.01826% (37/143)
 Bifidobacterium angulatum 9 × 10−456% (14/25)
 Bifidobacterium bifidum 0.00522% (25/114)
 Bifidobacterium breve 0.01250% (13/26)
 Bifidobacterium catenulatum 0.08443% (9/21)
 Bifidobacterium cornutum No sequence available
 Bifidobacterium dentium 0.01629% (24/82)
 Bifidobacterium infantis (B. longum subsp. infantis) 0.00552% (13/25)
 Bifidobacterium longum 0.00652% (13/25)
 Bifidobacterium pseudolongum (B. longum subsp. longum) 0.00652% (13/25)
 Clostridium bejerinkii (C. bejirinckii) 3 × 10−520% (41/209)
 Clostridium butyricum 1 × 10−7631% (123/402)
 Clostridium cadaveris 3.350% (4/8)
 Clostridium celatum No similarity found
 Clostridium clostridiiforme 0.04721% (17/80)
 Clostridium difficile 0.02328% (41/148)
 Clostridium innocum 0.7222% (11/50)
 Clostridium leptum 0.02625% (18/76)
 Clostridium malenominatum 2.967% (4/6)
 Clostridium nexile 1 × 10−443% (20/47)
 Clostridium paroputrificum 1.220% (15/77)
 Clostridium perfringens 4 × 10−8343% (132/310)
 Clostridium ramosum 0.1128% (17/60)
 Clostridium tertium 0.1326% (19/72)
 Eubacterium aerofaciens (Collinsella aerofaciens) 1 × 10−5434% (108/314)
 Eubacterium contortum No similarity found
 Eubacterium cylindroides 0.04232% (13/41)
 Eubacterium lentum (Eggerthella lentum) 0.06432% (22/68)
 Eubacterium limosum 0.00332% (23/74)
 Eubacterium rectale 0.01826% (14/53)
 Eubacterium ruminantium 2.536% (5/14)
 Eubacterium tenue No sequence available
 Eubacterium tortuosum No similarity found
 Eubacterium ventriosum 1 × 10−441% (22/54)
 Lachnospira multiparus 1.660% (6/10)
 Propionibacterium acnes 1 × 10−2025% (78/313)
 Propionibacteriu granulosum 4.171% (5/7)
 Propionibacterium jensenii 0.2530% (17/57)
Anaerobic cocci
 Acidaminococcus fermantans (A. fermentans) 0.1631% (18/58)
 Megasphera elsdenii (Megasphaera elsdenii) 0.1434% (11/32)
 Peptococcus asaccharolyticus (Peptoniphilus asaccharolyticus) 0.02349% (19/39)
 Peptococcus magnus (Finegoldia magna) 6 × 10−430% (17/57)
 Peptococcus prevotii (Anaerococcus prevotii) 3 × 10−5134% (98/291)
 Peptostreptococcus productus No similarity found
 Ruminococcus albus 4 × 10−828% (41/149)
 Ruminococcus bromii 0.04637% (14/38)
 Ruminococcus flavefaciens 4 × 10−626% (39/152)
 Sarcina ventriculi 0.7632% (8/25)
 Streptococcus constellatus 0.03928% (14/50)
 Streptococcus intermedius 5 × 10−623% (42/182)
 Streptococcus morbillorium (Gemella morbillorum) 6 × 10−6135% (105/247)
 Veillonella parvula 0.01423% (28/120)
 Coprococcus cutactus No sequence available
 Coprococcus catus 0.02229% (20/68)
 Coprococcus comes 0.00426% (16/61)
 Gemiger formicilis No sequence available
Facultatively anaerobic bacteria
 Enteric bacteria
 Escherichia coli 9 × 10−626% (35/137)
 Citrobacter freundii 2 × 10−423% (57/251)
 Klebsiella pneumonia 8 × 10−524% (34/140)
 Enterobacter cloacae 6 × 10−423% (30/133)
 Enterobacter aerogenes 0.00624% (60/249)
 Proteus mirabilis 3 × 10−442% (20/48)
 Proteus morganii 0.1541% (15/37)
Lactobacilli
 Lactobacillus acidophilus 6 × 10−425% (36/144)
 Lactobacillus brevis 0.01226% (14/55)
 Lactobacillus casei 0.03826% (28/107)
 Lactobacillus fermentum 0.01122% (11/49)
 Lactobacillus leichmannii (L. leichmanni) 3.929% (8/28)
 Lactobacillus minutus 2.867% (6/9)
 Lactobacillus plantarum 0.08924% (29/121)
 Lactobacillus rogosae No similarity found
 Lactobacillus ruminis 4 × 10−1337% (29/78)
 Lactobacillus salivarius 0.06234% (16/47)
Streptococci
 Streptococcus faecalis (Enterococcus faecalis) 1 × 10−8143% (128/301)
 Streptococcus faecium (Enterococccus faecium) 2 × 10−8143% (128/301)
 Streptococcus bovis 2 × 10−9948% (152/319)
 Streptococcus agalactiae 1 × 10−12455% (172/313)
 Streptococcus anginosus 9 × 10−443% (20/47)
 Streptococcus avium (Enterococcus avium) 0.8228% (10/36)
 Streptococcus cremoris (Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris) 1 × 10−7740% (124/311)
 Streptococcus equisimilius (S. dysgalactiae subsp. equisimilis) 0.00429% (19/65)
 Streptococcus lactis 2 × 10−7841% (125/307)
 Streptococcus mitior (S. mitis) 0.094% (307/326)
 Streptococcus mutans 0.00126% (38/148)
 Streptococcus salivarius 0.00131% (37/121)
 Streptococcus sanguis (S. sanguinis) 0.093% (303/326)
 Staphylococcus epidermidis 0.11122% (16/73)

aSequenced microbial genomes of some of the species found in the healthy human intestine with recent designations given in parentheses [6]. Genera were queried for similarity to acetyl xylan esterase [8]. The lower the expected value ( ) is reflects the likelihood that a match is not due to chance.
bIndicates the percentage of identical amino acids within the specified alignment length. The number of identical amino acids/the alignment length is given in parentheses.