Roseburia

Roseburia
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Bacteria
Kingdom: Bacillati
Phylum: Bacillota
Class: Clostridia
Order: Eubacteriales
Family: Lachnospiraceae
Genus: Roseburia
Stanton & Savage 1983
Type species
Roseburia cecicola
Stanton & Savage 1983
Species

Roseburia is a genus of obligately anaerobic, butyrate-producing bacteria in the family Lachnospiraceae. Members of the genus occur in the gastrointestinal tracts of mammals, and several species are common constituents of the human gut microbiota. Cultured species are generally saccharolytic, motile rods that ferment carbohydrates and form butyrate as a major product.

Taxonomy

The type species, Roseburia cecicola, was isolated from the cecum of a mouse. The generic name honours the American microbiologist Theodor Rosebury, who studied microorganisms associated with humans.

The List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature recognizes nine species with validly published and correct names in the genus.

Biology and metabolism

Described Roseburia cells are straight or slightly curved rods. Many strains are motile by means of multiple flagella. The Gram-stain reaction has been reported as positive, negative, or variable among cultured strains, despite the phylogenetic placement of the genus within the phylum Bacillota.

Species differ in their capacity to use dietary carbohydrates. Comparative genomic analysis has identified differences in carbohydrate-active enzymes and biosynthetic pathways among species, which may contribute to their occupation of different ecological niches in the colon. Roseburia intestinalis, for example, can act as a primary degrader of dietary β-mannans, while Roseburia inulinivorans can use inulin.

During carbohydrate fermentation, some strains consume acetate while producing butyrate. Butyrate is used as an energy source by colonic epithelial cells and participates in metabolic and immune signalling in the intestine.

Research

Differences in the relative abundance of Roseburia have been reported in observational studies of inflammatory bowel disease, colorectal cancer, and metabolic disorders.

R. intestinalis has been investigated as a potential live biotherapeutic. Administration of the bacterium reduced inflammatory pathology and altered immune responses in experimental models of colitis, but these findings were obtained in preclinical systems.

The relative abundance of R. inulinivorans was positively associated with several measures of muscle strength in human cohorts. Oral supplementation with the species also increased forelimb grip strength in antibiotic-treated mice and was accompanied by changes in amino-acid availability, muscle metabolism, and muscle-fibre composition.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Genus: Roseburia". List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature. Leibniz Institute DSMZ. Retrieved 13 August 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Duncan, Sylvia H.; Aminov, Rustam I.; Scott, Karen P.; Louis, Petra; Stanton, Thaddeus B.; Flint, Harry J. (2006). "Proposal of Roseburia faecis sp. nov., Roseburia hominis sp. nov. and Roseburia inulinivorans sp. nov., based on isolates from human faeces". International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. 56 (10): 2437–2441. doi:10.1099/ijs.0.64098-0. PMID 17012576.
  3. 1 2 3 Duncan, Sylvia H.; Hold, Gillian L.; Barcenilla, Ana; Stewart, Colin S.; Flint, Harry J. (2002). "Roseburia intestinalis sp. nov., a novel saccharolytic, butyrate-producing bacterium from human faeces". International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. 52 (5): 1615. doi:10.1099/ijs.0.02143-0. PMID 12361264.
  4. ↑ Stanton, Thaddeus B.; Savage, Dwayne C. (1983). "Roseburia cecicola gen. nov., sp. nov., a motile, obligately anaerobic bacterium from a mouse cecum". International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology. 33 (3): 618–627. doi:10.1099/00207713-33-3-618.
  5. ↑ Hillman, Ethan T.; Kozik, Ariangela J.; Hooker, Casey A.; Burnett, John L.; Heo, Yoojung; Kiesel, Violet A.; Nevins, Clayton J.; Oshiro, Jordan M. K. I.; Robins, Melissa M.; Thakkar, Riya D.; Wu, Sophie Tongyu; Lindemann, Stephen R. (2020). "Comparative genomics of the genus Roseburia reveals divergent biosynthetic pathways that may influence colonic competition among species". Microbial Genomics. 6 (7) 000399. doi:10.1099/mgen.0.000399. PMC 7478625. PMID 32589566.
  6. ↑ La Rosa, Sabina Leanti; Leth, Maria Louise; Michalak, Leszek; Hansen, Morten Ejby; Pudlo, Nicholas A.; Glowacki, Robert; Pereira, Gabriel; Workman, Christopher T.; Arntzen, Magnus Ø.; Pope, Phillip B.; Martens, Eric C.; Abou Hachem, Maher; Westereng, Bjørge (2019). "The human gut Firmicute Roseburia intestinalis is a primary degrader of dietary β-mannans". Nature Communications. 10 (1) 905. Bibcode:2019NatCo..10..905L. doi:10.1038/s41467-019-08812-y. PMC 6385246. PMID 30796211.
  7. ↑ Louis, Petra; Flint, Harry J. (2017). "Formation of propionate and butyrate by the human colonic microbiota". Environmental Microbiology. 19 (1): 29–41. doi:10.1111/1462-2920.13589. hdl:2164/9751. PMID 27235414.
  8. ↑ Nie, Kai; Ma, Kejia; Luo, Weiwei; Shen, Zhaohua; Yang, Zhenyu; Xiao, Mengwei; Tong, Ting; Yang, Yuanyuan; Wang, Xiaoyan (2021). "Roseburia intestinalis: A beneficial gut organism from the discoveries in genus and species". Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology. 11 757718. doi:10.3389/fcimb.2021.757718. PMC 8647967. PMID 34881193.
  9. ↑ Shen, Zhaohua; Zhu, Changxin; Quan, Yongsheng; Yang, Jinming; Yuan, Wei; Yang, Zhenyu; Wu, Shuai; Luo, Weiwei; Tan, Bei; Wang, Xiaoyan (2018). "Insights into Roseburia intestinalis which alleviates experimental colitis pathology by inducing anti-inflammatory responses". Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. 33 (10): 1751–1760. doi:10.1111/jgh.14144. PMID 29532517.
  10. ↑ Martinez-Tellez, Borja; Schönke, Milena; Kovynev, Artemiy; Garcia-Dominguez, Esther; Ortiz-Alvarez, Lourdes; Verhoeven, Aswin; Gacesa, Ranko; Vich Vila, Arnau; Ducarmon, Quinten Raymond; Jimenez-Pavon, David; Gomez-Cabrera, Maria Del Carmen; Weersma, Rinse K.; Smits, Wiep-Klaas; Giera, Martin; Ruiz, Jonatan R.; Rensen, Patrick C. N. (10 March 2026). "Roseburia inulinivorans increases muscle strength". Gut. doi:10.1136/gutjnl-2025-336980. hdl:1887/4307907. PMID 41806991.