Department of Biology, University of Utah, 257 South 1400 East, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA.
Pathogens. 2013 Dec 6;2(4):636-52. doi: 10.3390/pathogens2040636.
Oxalate-degrading bacteria comprise a functional group of microorganisms, commonly found in the gastrointestinal tract of mammals. Oxalate is a plant secondary compound (PSC) widely produced by all major taxa of plants and as a terminal metabolite by the mammalian liver. As a toxin, oxalate can have a significant impact on the health of mammals, including humans. Mammals do not have the enzymes required to metabolize oxalate and rely on their gut microbiota for this function. Thus, significant metabolic interactions between the mammalian host and a complex gut microbiota maintain the balance of oxalate in the body. Over a dozen species of gut bacteria are now known to degrade oxalate. This review focuses on the host-microbe and microbe-microbe interactions that regulate the degradation of oxalate by the gut microbiota. We discuss the pathways of oxalate throughout the body and the mammalian gut as a series of differentiated ecosystems that facilitate oxalate degradation. We also explore the mechanisms and functions of microbial oxalate degradation along with the implications for the ecological and evolutionary interactions within the microbiota and for mammalian hosts. Throughout, we consider questions that remain, as well as recent technological advances that can be employed to answer them.
草酸降解菌是一组功能微生物，通常存在于哺乳动物的胃肠道中。草酸是一种植物次生化合物（PSC），广泛存在于所有主要植物类群中，也是哺乳动物肝脏的终末代谢产物。作为一种毒素，草酸会对包括人类在内的哺乳动物的健康产生重大影响。哺乳动物没有代谢草酸所需的酶，依赖其肠道微生物群来完成这一功能。因此，哺乳动物宿主与复杂的肠道微生物群之间的大量代谢相互作用维持了体内草酸的平衡。现在已知有十几种肠道细菌可以降解草酸。这篇综述重点介绍了调节肠道微生物群降解草酸的宿主-微生物和微生物-微生物相互作用。我们讨论了草酸在全身和哺乳动物肠道中的途径，将其作为一系列分化的生态系统来促进草酸降解。我们还探讨了微生物草酸降解的机制和功能，以及其对微生物群内生态和进化相互作用以及对哺乳动物宿主的影响。在整个讨论过程中，我们考虑了仍存在的问题，以及最近可用于回答这些问题的技术进步。
