Molecular ecology of the yet uncultured bacterial Ct85-cluster in the mammalian gut.

In our previous studies on irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) -associated microbiota by molecular methods, we demonstrated that a particular 16S rRNA gene amplicon was more abundant in the feces of healthy subjects or mixed type IBS (IBS-M) -sufferers than in the feces of individuals with diarrhea-type IBS (IBS-D). In the current study, we demonstrated that this, so called Ct85-amplicon, consists of a cluster of very heterogeneous 16S rRNA gene sequences, and defined six 16S rRNA gene types, a to f, within this cluster, each representing a novel species-, genus- or family level taxon. We then designed specific PCR primers for these sequence types, mapped the distribution of the Ct85-cluster sequences and that of the newly defined sequence types in several animal species and compared the sequence types present in the feces of healthy individuals and IBS sufferers using two IBS study cohorts, Finnish and Dutch. Various Ct85-cluster sequence types were detected in the fecal samples of several companion and production animal species with remarkably differing prevalences and abundances. The Ct85 sequence type composition of swine closely resembled that of humans. One of the five types (d) shared between humans and swine was not present in any other animals tested, while one sequence type (b) was found only in human samples. In both IBS study cohorts, one type (e) was more prevalent in healthy individuals than in the IBS-M group. By revealing various sequence types in the widespread Ct85-cluster and their distribution, the results improve our understanding of these uncultured bacteria, which is essential for future efforts to cultivate representatives of the Ct85-cluster and reveal their roles in IBS.