Bifidobacteria: history, ecology, physiology and applications.

Abstract

Abstract- The review considers the following aspects: the milestones in Bifidobacterium history from their discovery to the new hierarchical structure collecting the genus Bifi-dobacterium with the genus Gardnerella into the family of Bifidobacteriaceae in the order of Bifidobacteriales; their ecology in human, animals and in extrabody habitats; the iden-tification approaches at genus, species and strain level; the optimum temperature and pH, sensitivity to oxygen, hexose metabolisms, cell wall structure, antagonistic activity, sus-ceptibility to antibiotics, nutritional requirements and the importance of bifidobacteria as probiotics microorganisms.