Taxonomy of Human Intestinal Gram-Positive Bacteria

—Focus on Anaerobes Belonging to the Phyla Firmicutes and Actinobacteria—

Abstract

Eleven phyla of the domain Bacteria and 1 phylum of the domain Archaea have been detected in the human gut. The majority of human intestinal bacteria belong to the following four phyla: Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria. A total of 957 species belonging to the domain Bacteria and 8 belonging to the domain Archaea have been identified. The taxonomy of Gram-positive anaerobic bacteria isolated from the human gut that belong to the phyla Firmicutes and Actinobacteria are described here.