What is Bifidobacterium???

 

  

Once you get over being intimidated by the number of letters in the word it is actually quit easy to pronounce and to understand. The lofty intellectual sounding dictionary definition says, "Bifidobacterium is a genus of Gram- positive non-motile, often branched anaerobic bacteria. Bifidobacteria are one of the major genera of bacteria that make up the gut flora, the bacteria that reside in the colon.  Bifidobacteria aid in digestion, are associated with a lower incidents of allergies and also prevent some forms of tumor growth. Some Bifidobacteria are being used as probiotics."

 

Hmmm... Well to understand what that means, lets break it down. "Bifidobacterium is a genus of Gram- positive non- motile, often branched anaerobic bacteria." When this part of the definition says "Gram- positive" it means the Gram stain test is positive. This means when the Gram stain process is preformed it retains a crystal- violet die. Gram- negative test results show a red or pink color. The point of the test has primarily to do with differences in the cell wall structure, this test is to identify and sort different types of bacteria. Now back to the definition. You might ask what anaerobic means. Simply, it means that Bifidobacterium does not require oxygen for growth and non-motile means that the bacterium doesn’t move.  So, more straightforward phrasing might be, "Bifidobacterium has a crystal- violet color when the Gram stain test is preformed making it Gram positive. This bacterium can grow without oxygen making it anaerobic. Bifidobacterium also doesn’t move so it does not have flagella which is the tail used to move."

 

OK, now lets decipher the next part of the definition. It is actually not a foreign language... "Bifidobacteria are one of the major genera of bacteria that make up the gut flora, the bacteria that reside in the colon." Well this one is a little more self-explanatory. Gut flora is the microorganism that lives in the digestive track. The “good” gut flora, which Bifidobacteria is one of, has a mutually beneficial relationship with their host. Even though we can live without “good” gut flora they perform many helpful things such as preventing the growth of harmful species of bacteria or “bad” gut flora, regulating the development of the gut, and producing vitamins. Research has shown that in certain conditions “bad” gut flora bacteria species could increase the risk of cancer for the host. Yikes... 

 

"Bifidobacteria aid in digestion, are associated with a lower incidents of allergies and also prevent some forms of tumor growth. Some Bifidobacteria are being used as probiotics." Bifidobacteria sounds very good but what is probiotics? Click here to learn about probiotics

 

 Amazing Bifido Facts!

 1. It is thought that Bifidobacterium ability to compete with other gastrointestinal bacteria and occupy a large percentage in the bacterial flora of the gastrointestinal region might be partly due to the large variety of molecules that it is able to use for energy.

 

2.  Bifidobacterium ferment sugars to produce lactic acid in the intestines.

 

3. Bifidobacteria have a unique hexose metabolism that occurs through a phosphoketolase pathway. This pathway, called the bifid shunt, uses the key enzyme frutose-6-phosphate phosphoketolase (F6PPK) and is the generally used as a diagnostic test for this Bifidobacteria because it's not found in other gram-positive intestinal bacteria.

 

4. Bifidobacteria are heterotrophic which means they require organic substrates to get its carbon for growth and development.

 

5. Bifidobacterium are non-sporeforming

 

6. Henry Tissier discovered Bifiidobacteria at the Pasteur Institute in 1900. He was doing research on the feaces of healthy, breast-fed infants. He was first researcher who started expounding on the therapeutic properties of Bifidobacterium and probiotics.

 

7. ferments a specific amino sugar adn lactulose found in breast milk

 

8. Breast milk also contains bifidus factor, an oligosaccharide that specifically promotes bifidus colonization.

 

 Ode to  Bifido

 

Sung to the tune of America the Beautiful

Oh Bifido, the Amazazing,

You are so gallant!

The color of your gram stain is so beautiful in its purpleness!

 

Oh Bifido, you are so great at aiding in digestion

All humans envy your ability

to multiply and live without oxygen!!!

 

Oh Biffy Bif,

I love you!!

You and your habit of fermenting sugars-

in the intestines, to produce lactic acid!!!

And watching you not move because you are a non motile bacterium

is so entertaining!!!

 

Oh bifido,

before you go,

I would like to conclude my ode

and say that I think that the fact that you

prevent some types of toumor groth is

above all courageous

of you!

 

Oh bifido,

oh dont you go

I need you or I will get indigestion, 

and that is not comfortable at all...

 

ok im done... yay!