HiBC: a publicly available collection of bacterial strains isolated from the human gut

Numerous bacteria in the human gut microbiome remain unknown and/or have yet to be cultured. While collections of human gut bacteria have been published, few strains are accessible to the scientific community. We have therefore created a publicly available collection of bacterial strains isolated from the human gut. The Human intestinal Bacteria Collection (HiBC) ( https://www.hibc.rwth-aachen.de ) contains 340 strains representing 198 species within 29 families and 7 phyla, of which 29 previously unknown species are taxonomically described and named. These included two butyrate-producing species of Faecalibacterium and new dominant species associated with health and inflammatory bowel disease, Ruminococcoides intestinale and Blautia intestinihominis, respectively. Plasmids were prolific within the HiBC isolates, with almost half (46%) of strains containing plasmids, with a maximum of six within a strain. This included a broadly occurring plasmid (pBAC) that exists in three diverse forms across Bacteroidales species. Megaplasmids were identified within two strains, the pMMCAT megaplasmid is globally present within multiple Bacteroidales species. This collection of easily searchable and publicly available gut bacterial isolates will facilitate functional studies of the gut microbiome.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nature Communications
Published
2025-05-06
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59229-9
Citations
22
Primary Topic
Gut microbiota and health
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
17.73

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article

HiBC: a publicly available collection of bacterial strains isolated from the human gut

Soheila Razavi, Jonathan Hartman, Maria Dimitra Chiotelli, L.C. Reimer et al.
22 citations
Nature Communications
Gut microbiota and health
17.73
article

HiBC: a publicly available collection of bacterial strains isolated from the human gut

Soheila Razavi, Jonathan Hartman, Maria Dimitra Chiotelli, L.C. Reimer, David Wylensek, David Berry, Charlie Pauvert, Thorsten Cramer, Artur Lissin, Alina Viehof, Susan A. V. Jennings, J. Witte, Stefanie Trinh, Marko Baloh, Michael Pester, Nicole Treichel, Jörg Overmann, Lukas C. Bossert, Till Strowig, Kevin Bisdorf, Jochen Seitz, J. F. van den Bosch, Birte Abt, Johannes M. Masson, Matthias Schmitz, Thorsten Allers, Thomas Clavel, Lena Amend, Thomas Riedel, Atscharah Panyot, Marie Wende, Selina Nüchtern, Thomas C. A. Hitch, Alessandra Riva, Marianne Grognot, Isabel Schober, Ntana Kousetzi, Maximilian Stuhrmann, Evelyn C. Deis, Afrizal Afrizal, L. M. Mitchell, Amy C Coates, Katrin Anja Winter, Andrea M. Aguirre
article en
22 citations

Abstract

Numerous bacteria in the human gut microbiome remain unknown and/or have yet to be cultured. While collections of human gut bacteria have been published, few strains are accessible to the scientific community. We have therefore created a publicly available collection of bacterial strains isolated from the human gut. The Human intestinal Bacteria Collection (HiBC) ( https://www.hibc.rwth-aachen.de ) contains 340 strains representing 198 species within 29 families and 7 phyla, of which 29 previously unknown species are taxonomically described and named. These included two butyrate-producing species of Faecalibacterium and new dominant species associated with health and inflammatory bowel disease, Ruminococcoides intestinale and Blautia intestinihominis, respectively. Plasmids were prolific within the HiBC isolates, with almost half (46%) of strains containing plasmids, with a maximum of six within a strain. This included a broadly occurring plasmid (pBAC) that exists in three diverse forms across Bacteroidales species. Megaplasmids were identified within two strains, the pMMCAT megaplasmid is globally present within multiple Bacteroidales species. This collection of easily searchable and publicly available gut bacterial isolates will facilitate functional studies of the gut microbiome.

Nature CommunicationsVol. 16(1)
University of Vienna (AT), University of Nottingham (GB), Medizinische Hochschule Hannover (DE), German Center for Infection Research (DE), Essen University Hospital (DE), Universitätsklinikum Aachen (DE), Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (DE), Centre for Individualised Infection Medicine (DE), University of Duisburg-Essen (DE), Technical University of Munich (DE), Leibniz Institute DSMZ – German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures (DE), RWTH Aachen University (DE), Technische Universität Braunschweig (DE)
Deutsches Zentrum für Infektionsforschung, Leverhulme Trust, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, RWTH Aachen University, Leibniz-Gemeinschaft
Life in Land
Openalex Percentile: Top 1%
Gut microbiota and health
17.73
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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