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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » National Animal Disease Center » Ruminant Diseases and Immunology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #84447
Title: EVALUATING CHILDREN IN THE UKRAINE FOR COLONIZATION WITH THE INTESTINAL BACTERIUM OXALOBACTER FORMIGENES, USING A POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION-BASED DETECTION SYSTEM

Author
item SIDHU, HARMEET - UNIV. FL, GAINESVILLE
item ENATSKA, L - UNIV. FL, GAINESVILLE
item OGDEN, S - IXION BIOTECHNOLOGY, FL
item WILLIAMS, W - UNIV. FL, SCH DENTISTRY
item ALLISON, MILTON - USDA-ARS (RETIRED)
item PECK, AMMON - UNIV. FL., GAINESVILLE

Submitted to: Molecular Diagnosis
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/20/1997
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Oxalic acid (and its salts - oxalates) are widely distributed in diets of man and animals. Dietary oxalates (as well as oxalate produced by tissue metabolism) are potentially toxic because elevated concentrations of oxalate in the urine increase the risk for formation of kidney stones composed of calcium oxalate. Oxalobacter formigenes, a bacterium that degrades oxalate, lives in the intestinal tract of animals and in some, but not all, humans. Oxalate degradation by this bacterium can reduce the amount of oxalate that is absorbed and thus reduce the risk for urinary stone disease. This paper describes new methods to detect O. formigenes. The methods developed use polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based amplification and then detection of DNA fragments that are uniquely present in O. formigenes. The detection system is more rapid than the cultural identification systems preivously used. The new system was compared with the cultural system in a field test using 100 fecal samples from children in the Ukraine (aged 0-12 yr). Data collected indicate that most infants less than 1 yr old were not colonized by O. formigenes but that all of the children became colonized by the age of 6-8 yr. The incidence of colonization then decreased in children who were 9-12 yr of age. These results provide the first insight into the time sequence of colonization of humans by O. formigenes and further support the concept that these bacteria are widely distributed in humans. The new methods that are described will facilitate extensive surveys in man and animals and will provide a basis for possible manipulations of the bacteria to provide protection from kidney stones and other diseases caused by oxalate.

Technical Abstract: Oxalobacter formigenes is a recently discovered anaerobic bacterium residing in the gastrointestinal tracts of most vertebrates, including humans. Evidence suggests that this bacterium plays an importnat symbiotic relationship with its hosts by regulating oxalic acid homeostasis. Oxalic acid is a ubiquitous toxic by-product of metabolism associated with numerous pathologic conditions, including hyperoxaluria, cardiac myopathy and conductance disorders, kidney stones, and even death. Despite the potential importance of O. formigenes in several major health disorders, the difficulty in culturing, isolating, and identifying this fastidious anaerobe has limited research of its disease associations. Because O. formigenes must use two unique enzymes to catabolize oxalic acid, this bacterium appeared to be a suitable model for DNA-based identification, thereby circumventing the labor-intensive procedures currently used.