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Table 1 Major genera present in the human gut microbiome and their metabolisms

From: Macronutrient metabolism by the human gut microbiome: major fermentation by-products and their impact on host health

Phylum

Family

Genus

Substrates

Metabolism

End products

Actinobacteria

Bifidobacteriaceae

Bifidobacterium

Dietary carbohydrates

HMO

Mucin

Bifid shunt pathway

Acetate

Ethanol

Formate

Lactate

Bacteroidetes

Bacteroidaceae

Bacteroides

Dietary carbohydrates

HMO

Mucin

Proteins

Succinate

1,2-Propanediol pathwayI

Acetate production

Ethanol production

Succinate pathway

1,2-Propanediol

Acetate

Carbon dioxide and Hydrogen

Ethanol

Formate

Propionate

Succinate

 

Porphyromonadaceae

Parabacteroides W

Dietary carbohydrates

Proteins

Succinate

Acetate production

Succinate pathway

Acetate

Carbon dioxide and Hydrogen

Formate

Propionate

Succinate

 

Prevotellaceae

Prevotella NW

Dietary carbohydrates

Proteins

Succinate

Acetate production

Succinate pathwayI/A

Acetate

Formate

Propionate

Succinate

 

Rikencellaceae

Alistipes W

Dietary carbohydrates

Proteins

Succinate

Acetate production

Succinate pathway

Acetate

Carbon dioxide and Hydrogen

Formate

Propionate

Succinate

Firmicutes

Clostridiaceae

Clostridium

(Clostridium cluster I)

Ethanol and Propionate

Lactate

Proteins

Saccharides

1,2-Propanediol pathwayI

Acetate production

Acrylate pathway

Butyrate kinase pathway

Ethanol production

Lactate production

Valerate production

1,2-Propanediol

Acetate

Carbon dioxide and Hydrogen

Ethanol

Formate

Lactate

Propionate

Butyrate

Valerate

 

Eubacteriaceae

Eubacterium

Acetate

Carbon dioxide and hHydrogen

Formate

Lactate

Methanol

Proteins

Saccharides

Acetogenesis

Acetate production

Butyryl c CoA transferase pathway

Ethanol production

Lactate production

Acetate

Butyrate

Carbon dioxide and Hydrogen

Ethanol

Formate

Lactate

 

Erysipelotrichaceae

Erysipelatoclostridium

Proteins

Saccharides

Acetate production

Lactate production

Acetate

Carbon dioxide and Hydrogen

Formate

Lactate

 

Lachnospiraceae

Blautia

(Clostridium cluster XIVa)

1,2-Propanediol

Carbon dioxide and Hydrogen

Dietary carbohydrates

Formate

Mucin

1,2-Propanediol pathway

Acetogenesis

Acetate production

Ethanol production

Lactate production

Succinate pathwayI

Acetate

Carbon dioxide and Hydrogen

Ethanol

Formate

Lactate

Propanol

Propionate

Succinate

  

Coprococcus

(Clostridium cluster XIVa)

Acetate

Dietary carbohydrates

Lactate

Acrylate pathway

Butyrate kinase pathway

Butyryl CoA:acetyl CoA transferase pathway

Ethanol production

Lactate production

Acetate

Butyrate

Ethanol

Carbon dioxide and Hydrogen

Formate

Lactate

Propionate

  

Dorea

(Clostridium cluster XIVa)

Dietary carbohydrates

Acetate production

Ethanol production

Lactate production

Acetate

Carbon dioxide and Hydrogen

Ethanol

Formate

Lactate

  

Lachnoclostridium

(Clostridium cluster XIVa)

Proteins

Saccharides

Acetate production

Butyrate kinase pathway

Ethanol production

Lactate production

Acetate

Butyrate

Carbon dioxide and Hydrogen

Ethanol

Formate

Lactate

  

Roseburia

(Clostridium cluster XIVa)

1,2-Propanediol

Acetate

Dietary carbohydrates

1,2-Propanediol pathway

Acetate production

Butyryl CoA:acetyl CoA transferase pathway

Ethanol production

Lactate production

Acetate

Butyrate

Carbon dioxide and Hydrogen

Ethanol

Formate

Lactate

Propanol

Propionate

 

Lactobacillaceae

Lactobacillus

1,2-Propanediol

Saccharides

1,2-Propanediol pathway

Acetate production

Ethanol production

Lactate production

Acetate

Ethanol

Formate

Lactate

Propanol

Propionate

 

Ruminococcaceae

Faecalibacterium

(Clostridium cluster IV)

Acetate

Butyryl CoA:acetyl CoA transferase pathway

Butyrate

Carbon dioxide and Hydrogen

Formate

  

Ruminiclostridium W

(Specifically Clostridium cluster IV, which is currently grouped with Clostridium cluster III)

Dietary carbohydrates

Proteins

Acetate production

Butyrate kinase pathway

Ethanol production

Lactate production

Acetate

Butyrate

Carbon dioxide and Hydrogen

Ethanol

Formate

Lactate

  

Ruminococcus

(Clostridium cluster IV)

Dietary carbohydrates

Acetate production

Ethanol production

Lactate production

Succinate pathwayI

Acetate

Ethanol

Formate

Lactate

Succinate

 

Streptococcaceae

Streptococcus NW

Mucin

Saccharides

Acetate production

Ethanol production

Lactate production

Acetate

Ethanol

Formate

Lactate

 

Veillonellaceae

Veillonella

1,2-Propanediol

Lactate

Proteins

Saccharides

Succinate

1,2-Propanediol pathway

Acetate production

Lactate production

Succinate pathway

Acetate

Carbon dioxide and Hydrogen

Formate

Lactate

Propanol

Propionate

Succinate

Proteobacteria

Enterobacteriaceae

Escherichia

Proteins

Saccharides

1,2-Propanediol pathwayI

2,3-Butanediol production

Acetate production

Ethanol production

Lactate production

Succinate pathwayI

1,2-Propanediol

2,3-Butanediol

Acetate

Carbon dioxide and Hydrogen

Ethanol

Formate

Lactate

Succinate

  1. Taxa that are listed as part of a ‘core’ gut microbiota found by Falony et al. are in bold [31]. Those genera that were core components of exclusively the ‘Western’ cohorts are denoted with a ‘W’ superscript, whereas the exclusively ‘non-Western’ ones are denoted with a ‘NW’ superscript. If the core taxon could not be resolved to the genus level, the bacterial families are bolded. For the bacterial families that do not already contain several core genera, the most commonly described genus of the human gut microbiome for that family is also listed as a representative. Additionally, genera found to be highly prevalent among the human population, yet typically present in low abundance, are underlined [32]. The possible substrates consumed, metabolisms, and metabolites for each genus are listed. These metabolisms were inferred from the following articles [28, 33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61]. Note that many of these metabolisms are species-specific, and only the substrates commonly utilized among species of the genus are listed. Further, only the most abundant metabolites produced from pyruvate catabolism (i.e., saccharolytic processes) are given. When a particular metabolic pathway is denoted with an ‘I’ superscript, the microorganisms do not possess the full enzymatic pathway, but rather produce the typical intermediate as an end-product instead. Likewise, an ‘I/A’ indicates species of that genus may possess either the full or half pathway