Oxalate-degrading Providencia rettgeri isolated from human stools.
BACKGROUND
Oxalate-degrading bacteria are thought to metabolize intestinal oxalate and thus decrease the urinary excretion of oxalate by reducing its intestinal absorption.


METHODS
We have isolated several novel oxalate-degrading bacteria from human stools. Oxalate degrading bacteria were investigated to characterize their protein profiles with antibodies against oxalyl-coenzyme A decarboxylase (65 kDa) and formyl-coenzyme A transferase (48 kDa) purified from Oxalobacter formigenes.


RESULTS
One of these isolates was identified as Providencia rettgeri, which showed two proteins (65 kDa and 48 kDa) on sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) that were not found in non-oxalate-degrading P. rettgeri. Antibodies reacted with the 65 and 48 kDa proteins from the P. rettgeri strain on Western blotting. An Oxalobacter formigenes formyl-coenzyme A transferase gene probe reacted with chromosomal DNA from P. rettgeri on Southern blotting under high stringency conditions, while an Oxalobacter formigenes oxalyl-coenzyme A decarboxylase gene probe did not react under the same conditions.


CONCLUSIONS
The mechamism of oxalate degradation by P. rettgeri appears to be similar to that of Oxalobacter formigenes. This is the first report of a facultative oxalate-degrading organism that is one of the Enterobacteriaceae.
Department of Urology, Faculty of Medicine, University of the Ryukus, Nishihara, Okinawa, Japan. hokama@med.u-ryukyu.ac.jp
Sanehiro
S
Hokama
Claudia
C
Toma
Masaaki
M
Iwanaga
Makoto
M
Morozumi
Kimio
K
Sugaya
Yoshihide
Y
Ogawa
D015139:Blotting, Southern; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002262:Carboxy-Lyases / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D015256:Coenzyme A-Transferases / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D007106:Immune Sera; D010070:Oxalates / Q000378:metabolism*; D020624:Oxalobacter formigenes / Q000201:enzymology; D011532:Providencia / Q000201:enzymology / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism*
D007106:Immune Sera; D010070:Oxalates; D015256:Coenzyme A-Transferases; C064813:formyl-coenzyme A transferase; D002262:Carboxy-Lyases; C059418:oxalyl CoA decarboxylase