Open AccessEpimerization of chenodeoxycholic acid to ursodeoxycholic acid by Clostridium baratii isolated from human feces
Author(s) -
Pascale Lepercq,
Philippe Gérard,
Fabienne Béguet,
P. Raibaud,
Jean-Pierre Grill,
Purification Relano,
Chantal Cayuela,
Catherine Juste
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1016/j.femsle.2004.04.011
Subject(s) - ursodeoxycholic acid , chenodeoxycholic acid , deoxycholic acid , bacteria , bile acid , microbiology and biotechnology , human feces , feces , cholic acid , clostridium , biology , biochemistry , chemistry , genetics
Ursodeoxycholic acid-producing bacteria are of clinical and industrial interest due to the multiple beneficial effects of this bile acid on human health. This work reports the first isolation of 7-epimerizing bacteria from feces of a healthy volunteer, on the basis of their capacity to epimerize the primary bile acid, chenodeoxycholic acid, to ursodeoxycholic acid. Five isolates were found to be active starting from unconjugated chenodeoxycholic acid and its tauro-conjugated homologue, but none of these strains could epimerize the glyco-conjugated form. Biochemical testing and 16S ribosomal DNA sequencing converged to show that all five isolates were closely related to Clostridium baratii (99% sequence similarity), suggesting that this bacterial species could be responsible at least partially, for this bioconversion in the human gut.
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