Frits Schut

TL;DR: Six 16S rRNA-targeted oligonucleotide probes were designed, validated, and used to quantify predominant groups of anaerobic bacteria in human fecal samples, indicating that normal biological variations within the fecal populations of the volunteers were determined and indicated that these variations should be considered when evaluating the effects of agents modulating the flora.

TL;DR: Since the total culturable counts were only a fraction of the total microscopic counts, the contribution of bifidobacteria to the total intestinal microflora was overestimated by almost 10-fold when cultural methods were used as the sole method for enumeration.

TL;DR: Dilution culture, a method for growing the typical small bacteria from natural aquatic assemblages, has been developed and each of 11 experimental trials of the technique was successful, suggesting substantial population diversity and strategies for optimizing viability determinations and pure culture production.

TL;DR: A group-specific 16S rRNA-targeted oligonucleotide probe S-G-Lab-0158-a-A20 (Lab158) was designed and validated to quantify species of the phylogenetic group lactobacilli-enterococci and shows that FISH with probe Lab158 is a useful method to enumerate lactob ACilli in faeces and can assist in the identification of lactic acid bacteria grown on plates.

TL;DR: This review describes the state of the art as well as the initial results of molecular methodologies used to study the ecology of the complex microflora of the human intestinal tract and the potential of novel advances in molecular technologies such as DNA arrays for analysis of the intestinal ecosystem.