o. formigenes in raw cabbage Was:Re: CDSA Test Prep & Effects---TMI Warning

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Sources supporting the o. formigenes/raw cabbage connection:

1) Calcium Oxalate in Biological Systems, edited by Saeed Khan

2) Mol Diagn. 1997 Jun;2(2):89-97.

Evaluating Children in the Ukraine for Colonization With the Intestinal

Bacterium Oxalobacter formigenes, Using a Polymerase Chain Reaction-based

Detection System.

Sidhu H, Enatska L, Ogden S, WN, MJ, Peck AB.

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Florida College

of Medicine , Gainesville , Florida , USA

Abstract

Background: 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 important 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 hyperoxaluia, 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. Methods and Results: In this study, genus- and group-specific

oligonucleotide sequences were designed corresponding to homologous regions

residing in the oxc gene that enodes for oxalyl-coenzyme A decarboxylase. A

polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based amplification of the 5'end of this gene

directly from genomic DNA isolated from various strains of O. formigenes was

used to show that the genus- and group-specific oligonucleotide probes could

identify and subgroup the bacterium. Field testing of this PCR-based detection

system with 100 fecal cultures collected from children aged 0-12 years

demonstrated the ease and efficacy with which O. formigenes can now be

identified. Furthermore, these latter data provide a profile for the natural

colonization of a human population with this intestinal bacterium. Conclusions:

Development and use of this PCR-based detection system permit the rapid

identification and classification of the gut-associated bacterium O. formigenes,

thereby circumventing the need for the more labor-intensive and lengthy method

currently used. The first field test of this detection system indicates that

humans apparently do not become colonized with O. formigenes until they begin

crawling about in the environment. Furthermore, studies investigating the

association between several disorders (eg, kidney stones, irritable bowel

syndrome, and hyperoxaluria) and the absence of the bacterium from the gut will

now prove far easier.

PMID: 10462596