Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Isolation of Streptococcus thoraltensis from Rabbit Faeces

  • Published:
Current Microbiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Bacteria were isolated from rabbit faeces using equine caecal fluid as a growth medium. Two new isolates of the genus Streptococcus are described in terms of their biochemical properties. One of these has a 16S rRNA gene with 97.7%, and the other 98.5%, identity to Streptococcus thoraltensis. While S. thoraltensis has been described in the intestinal tract of pigs, it is generally considered to inhabit the porcine genital tract. The biochemical properties of these bacteria indicate that both new isolates showed an ability to digest xylose, an adaptation beneficial for survival in a niche where much of the nutrient supply is of plant origin. Moreover, having bacteria able to digest xylose in the digestive tract should be beneficial to the rabbit, allowing more effective utilisation and digestion of food. This work provides one of the few examples of an analysis of the physiological properties of a bacterium found in the hindgut of the rabbit. By building up a number of such studies, the mechanisms of bacterial digestion in the rabbit will become better understood.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Abecia L, Fondevila M, Balcells J et al (2005) Molecular profiling of bacterial species in the rabbit caecum. FEMS Microbiol Lett 244:111–115

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Altschul SF, Gish W, Myers EW, Lipman DJ (1990) Basic local alignment search tool. J Mol Biol 215:403–410

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Belenguer A, Fondevila M, Balcells J et al (2008) In vivo and in vitro study of caecal fermentation pattern and methanogenesis in rabbits. In: Proceedings of 9th World Rabbit Congress, Verona, Italy, pp 535–540

  4. Bergey DH, Holt JG (1994) Bergey’s manual of determinative bacteriology, 9th edn. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia

    Google Scholar 

  5. Devriese LA, Pot B, Vandamme P et al (1997) Streptococcus hyovaginalis sp. nov. and Streptococcus thoraltensis sp. nov., from the genital tract of sows. Int J Syst Bacteriol 47:1073–1077

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Felsenstein J (1989) PHYLIP—phylogeny inference package (Version 3.2). Cladistics 5:164–166

    Google Scholar 

  7. Halsall DM, Turner GL, Gibson AH (1985) Straw and xylan utilisation by pure cultures of nitrogen-fixing Azospirillum spp. Appl Environ Microbiol 49:423–428

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Heald PJ (1952) The fermentation of xylans in the rumen of the sheep. Br J Nutr 7:124–130

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Hongoh Y, Deevong P, Inoue T et al (2005) Intra- and interspecific comparisons of bacterial diversity and community structure support coevolution of gut microbiota and termite host. Appl Environ Microbiol 71:6590–6599

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Milinovich GJ, Trott DJ, Burrell PC et al (2007) Fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis of hindgut bacteria associated with the development of equine laminitis. Environ Microbiol 9:2090–2100

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Monteils V, Cauquil L, Combes A et al (2008) Potential core species and satellite species in the bacterial community with the rabbit caecum. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 66:620–629

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Olsen MA (1994) Digestion of herring by indigenous bacteria in the minke whale forestomach. Appl Environ Microbiol 60:4445–4455

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Page RDM (1996) TREEVIEW: an application to display phylogenetic tress on personal computers. Comput Appl Biosci 12:357–358

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Skinner FA, Quesnel LB (1987) Streptococci. Academic Press, London

    Google Scholar 

  15. Smith HW (1965) Observations on the flora of the alimentary tract of animals and factors affecting its composition. J Pathol Bacteriol 82:72–79

    Google Scholar 

  16. Thompson JD, Higgins DG, Gibson TJ (1994) CLUSTAL W: improving the sensitivity of progressive multiple sequence alignment through sequence weighting, position-specific gap penalties and weight matrix choice. Nucleic Acids Res 22:4673–4680

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Zomborszky-Kovacs M, Gyarmati T, Parizs T et al (2000) Some physiological properties of the digestive tract in traditionally reared and exclusively milk-fed young rabbits. In: Proceedings of 7th World Rabbit Congress, Valencia, Spain, pp 483–490

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Aberystwyth University, IBERS, Aberystwyth, UK

    Stina Borø, Christine A. McCartney, Tim J. Snelling, Hilary J. Worgan & Neil R. McEwan

Authors
  1. Stina Borø
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Christine A. McCartney
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Tim J. Snelling
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Hilary J. Worgan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Neil R. McEwan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Neil R. McEwan.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Borø, S., McCartney, C.A., Snelling, T.J. et al. Isolation of Streptococcus thoraltensis from Rabbit Faeces. Curr Microbiol 61, 357–360 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-010-9619-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-010-9619-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation