What does this bacterium look like?
This bacterium is a small rod of approximately 1 to 5 micrometers with a thin cell wall. That is small when you know that 1,000 micrometers fit into one millimeter. The name is a contraction of the Latin “vescus”, meaning “small”, and the Greek “monas”, meaning “unit”. Vescimonas therefore literally means “small unit”.
What does science already know about this bacterium?
Not much yet. This bacterium was only first described as a new genus in 2021. Vescimonas does not tolerate oxygen well and is therefore difficult to grow in the lab. We do know that there are two officially recognized species, namely Vescimonas coprocola and Vescimonas fastidiosa. The name of the first species refers to the place where this bacterium was first isolated: the Greek word “kopros” means nothing less than stool or feces.
Based on current knowledge, we already know that Vescimonas has an average genome size of approximately 2.5 million base pairs with around 2,500 genes. This means that this bacterium can produce around 2,500 different substances.
What is this bacterium doing in my gut?
Good question! Not much is known yet about the exact role of Vescimonas. We do know that Vescimonas loves food residues that you cannot digest yourself, such as fiber from fruit and vegetables. When Vescimonas gets to work, it converts these food residues into useful substances that make your intestinal wall (or intestinal lining) happy. We call these useful substances short-chain fatty acids, and butyrate is an example of this. These substances provide energy to your intestinal cells and thus contribute to a healthy intestinal wall.
Interestingly, a negative correlation was recently found between the amount of Vescimonas, BMI and the risk of obesity. But such a correlation tells us nothing about cause and effect. Further research is needed to unravel more properties of Vescimonas, and our research team is happy to contribute to this. 🙂
Does this bacterium occur elsewhere?
Vescimonas feels most at home in your gut. When this bacterium moves outside its familiar environment, it cannot survive very well because it is very sensitive to oxygen. Researchers have also found this bacterium in other mammals (such as monkeys), where it also prefers to reside in the intestines.