<unk>  is considered to be a scavenger, possessing multiple catabolic pathways to use a large variety of nutrients to increase its competitiveness among the gut microbiota. Up to 19 types of permease exist to transport various carbohydrates with 13 being ATP-binding cassette transporters.<unk>  has several glycosyl hydrolases to metabolise complex oligosaccharides for carbon and energy. This is necessary as mono- and disaccharides have usually been consumed by the time they reach the lower gastrointestinal tract where<unk>  resides. In addition,<unk>  can uniquely ferment galactomannan-rich natural gum using glucosaminidases and alpha-mannosidases that participate in the fermentation of glucosamine and mannose, respectively. The high number of genes associated with oligosaccharide metabolism is a result of gene duplication and horizontal gene transfer, indicating that<unk>  is under selective pressure to increase its capability to compete for various substrates in the gastrointestinal tract. Furthermore,<unk>  possesses hydrolases, deaminases, and dehydratases to ferment amino acids.<unk>  also has bile salt hydrolases to hydrolyze bile salts into amino acids and bile acids. The function of this is not clear, although<unk>  could use the amino acids products to better tolerate bile salts.
Bifidobacterium longum
Bifidobacterium breve
Prevotella bivia
Campylobacter upsaliensis
Bacteroides dorei
Clostridium perfringens
Lactobacillus acidophilus
Clostridium tetani