Oxalobacter formigenes

Oxalobacter formigenes is an oxalate-degrading anaerobic bacterium that colonizes the large intestines of numerous vertebrates, including humans. O. formigenes and humans share a beneficial symbiosis.

Oxalobacter formigenes
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Bacteria
Phylum:
Proteobacteria
Order:
Burkholderiales
Family:
Oxalobacteraceae
Genus:
Oxalobacter
Species:
O. formigenes
Binomial name
Oxalobacter formigenes

The broad-spectrum quinolone antibiotics kill O. formigenes. If a person's gastrointestinal (GI) tract lacks this bacterium, and therefore lacks the primary source for the oxalyl-CoA decarboxylase enzyme, then the GI tract cannot degrade dietary oxalates which on digestion get absorbed easily and after some vitamin B6-modulated partial metabolical degradation in the body, is excreted in the kidney, where it precipitates with calcium to form calcium oxalate kidney stones.[1] [2] [3]

The role and presence of O. formigenes in the human gut is an area of active research.

References
  1. (interim reference, describes two other studies)
  2. Pearle MS, Goldfarb DS, Assimos DG, et al. (2014). "Medical management of kidney stones: AUA guideline". J. Urol. 192 (2): 316–324. doi:10.1016/j.juro.2014.05.006. PMID 24857648.
  3. Siener R, Rangen U, Sidhu H, et al. (2013). "The role of Oxalobacter formigenes colonization in calcium oxalate stone disease". Kidney Int. 83 (June): 1144–9. doi:10.1038/ki.2013.104. PMID 23536130.


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