Why Sequence Lactobacillus reuteri?
Lactobacillus reuteri is a gram-positive bacterial species that commonly inhabits the gut of mice, poultry, and pigs as a member of the normal microbiota. These bacteria are autochthonous (indigenous) to the gut of these animals because they persist throughout the life of the host at characteristic population sizes in specific regions of the gut. Moreover, L. reuteri strains exhibit host specificity. The genetic attributes and the mechanisms that enable the bacteria to persist in the gut are unknown; therefore, this research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of autochthony. Two L. reuteri strains, 100-23 and DSM20016T will be sequenced. Strain 100-23 is a rodent-specific strain that researchers are using, in combination with Lactobacillus-free mice, as a model organism to study normal microbiota-host interactions. Strain DSM20016T (the type strain of L. reuteri), which is of human origin, does not persist in the gut of mice. The researchers postulate that the genome of strain 100-23
