science

Gordonibacter urolithinfaciens

Gordonibacter urolithinfaciens is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Gordonibacter urolithinfaciens rather than just read about it. In short: Gordonibacter urolithinfaciens is a Gram-positive, strictly anaerobic, non-spore-forming and motile species of bacteria in the family Eggerthellaceae. The type strain was originally isolated from the feces of a healthy human volunteer in Murcia, Spain.

Key takeaways

Gordonibacter urolithinfaciens belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Gordonibacter urolithinfaciens to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Gordonibacter urolithinfaciens from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Gordonibacter urolithinfaciens is a Gram-positive, strictly anaerobic, non-spore-forming and motile species of bacteria in the family Eggerthellaceae. The type strain was originally isolated from the feces of a healthy human volunteer in Murcia, Spain. It can convert ellagic acid into several urolithin intermediates.

Taxonomy and nomenclature The specific epithet urolithinfaciens means "urolithin-producing", referring to the bacterium's ability to metabolize ellagic acid into urolithins. Gordonibacter faecihominis is a later heterotypic synonym of G. urolithinfaciens. Genome-based and phenotypic comparisons showed that their type strains belong to the same species.

Characteristics Cells are short rods or coccobacilli. Cells may be longitudinally asymmetrical, with one end having a conical appearance. Motility is provided by a subpolar flagellum, and some cells have been observed with a thick amorphous extracellular layer. The bacterium is catalase-positive and metabolizes a limited range of carbon sources.

Metabolism

Ellagic acid and urolithins G. urolithinfaciens converts ellagic acid sequentially into urolithin M5, urolithin M6 and urolithin C. The pathway involves opening and decarboxylation of one of the lactone rings of ellagic acid, followed by successive dehydroxylation reactions. Experiments using cell-free extracts localized the urolithin-dehydroxylating activity to the soluble cellular fraction. NADPH and flavin adenine dinucleotide participate in the electron-transfer system associated with the conversion of urolithin M5 into M6 and of M6 into urolithin C.

Other phenolic compounds In laboratory cultures, the type strain also metabolized caffeic, dihydrocaffeic, rosmarinic and chlorogenic acids through dehydroxylation or double-bond reduction. Most of the other dietary phenolic compounds tested were not transformed, indicating that these activities have a relatively restricted substrate range. In a mouse experiment, oral administration of live G. urolithinfaciens together with ellagic acid increased measured urolithin bioavailability compared with ellagic acid alone. The bacterium survived simulated gastrointestinal digestion in vitro but did not establish stable colonization in the mouse gut.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Gordonibacter urolithinfaciens

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Gordonibacter urolithinfaciens claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Gordonibacter urolithinfaciens before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Gordonibacter urolithinfaciens ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Gordonibacter urolithinfaciens

In research: Gordonibacter urolithinfaciens appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Gordonibacter urolithinfaciens in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Gordonibacter urolithinfaciens is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Actinomycetota, Anaerobes, Bacteria described in 2014, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Gordonibacter urolithinfaciens outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Gordonibacter urolithinfaciens in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Gordonibacter urolithinfaciens means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Gordonibacter urolithinfaciens out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Gordonibacter urolithinfaciens in simple terms?

Why does Gordonibacter urolithinfaciens matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Gordonibacter urolithinfaciens?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Gordonibacter urolithinfaciens.