Isolation and characterization of a mucin-degrading strain of Peptostreptococcus from rat intestinal tract.

A mucin-degrading microorganism was isolated from the intestinal tract by serial sectioning from the serosal side of the caecum wall from a conventional rat. The ability of degrading the intestinal water-soluble mucin was present both in vivo after monocontamination of germ-free rats and in vitro, when adding the microbe to Mucin medium. The morphology, Gram-positive cocci single or in short chains and the very weak biochemical activities allow us to place this strain in the species Peptostreptococcus micros.