title: Molecular epidemiology of fecal Oxalobacter formigenes in healthy adults living in Seoul, Korea.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Oxalobacter formigenes is a member of the intestinal flora that degrades oxalate. This bacterium maintains an important symbiotic relation with its hosts by regulating oxalic acid absorption in the intestine as well as oxalic acid concentrations in plasma. We tried to define the prevalence of fecal O. formigenes positivity in healthy adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  Whole-bacterial DNA was isolated directly from fresh stool samples obtained from 233 healthy adults known to be free of urolithiasis. Genus-specific oligonucleotide sequences corresponding to homologous regions residing in the oxc gene that encodes oxalyl-coenzyme A decarboxylase were designed. A PCR-based assay was done on the stool samples.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A PCR product of 416 bp encoding the oxc gene was detected in 197 of the 233 stool samples (76.8%). Adjusted to the Seoul population census 1995, the calibrated fecal O. formigenes-positive rate was estimated to be 76.7%: 79.2% in men and 74.2% in women, with no significance difference according to age or sex.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that O. formigenes inhabits the intestine of three fourths of the normal Korean populations. These data provide a base for further studies to uncover the relation between O. formigenes and urolithiasis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Seoul National University College of Medicine and Clinical Research Institute, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Cheol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kwak
authors.forename: Byong-Chang
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.forename: Hee Kyung
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Eui Chong
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Myung Sik
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Chox
authors.forename: Hyeon Hoe
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020624:Oxalobacter formigenes / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015995:Prevalence; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial