ABSTRACT
The importance of intestinal anaerobic clostridia in many aspects of mammalian host health and performance, including provision of nutrients, stimulation of immune response, protection from pathogens, and production and metabolism of toxins, is becoming increasingly apparent. There is, therefore, a great need for both the accurate identification and enumeration of the intestinal clostridia populations in intestinal ecosystems and a functional assessment of their in situ activities in the gut.
