Aerobic bioconversion of C-glycoside mangiferin into its aglycone norathyriol by an isolated mouse intestinal bacterium

C-Glycoside-Metabolizing Human Gut Bacterium, Dorea sp. MRG-IFC3

Biochemical gut metabolism of dietary bioactive compounds is of great significance in elucidating health-related issues at the molecular level. In this study, a human gut bacterium cleaving C-C glycosidic bond was screened from puerarin conversion to daidzein, and a new, gram-positive C-glycoside-deglycosylating strain, Dorea sp. MRG-IFC3, was isolated from human fecal sample under anaerobic conditions. Though MRG-IFC3 biotransformed isoflavone C-glycoside, it could not metabolize other C-glycosides, such as vitexin, bergenin, and aloin. As evident from the production of the corresponding aglycons from various 7-O-glucosides, MRG-IFC3 strain also showed 7-O-glycoside cleavage activity; however, flavone 3-O-glucoside icariside II was not metabolized. In addition, for mechanism study, C-glycosyl bond cleavage of puerarin by MRG-IFC3 strain was performed in D2O GAM medium. The complete deuterium enrichment on C-8 position of daidzein was confirmed by 1H NMR spectroscopy, and the result clearly proved for the first time that daidzein is produced from puerarin. Two possible reaction intermediates, the quinoids and 8-dehydrodaidzein anion, were proposed for the production of daidzein-8d. These results will provide the basis for the mechanism study of stable C-glycosidic bond cleavage at the molecular level.

Potential roles of gut microbes in biotransformation of natural products: An overview

Natural products have been extensively applied in clinical practice, characterized by multi-component and multi-target, many pharmacodynamic substances, complex action mechanisms, and various physiological activities. For the oral administration of natural products, the gut microbiota and clinical efficacy are closely related, but this relationship remains unclear. Gut microbes play an important role in the transformation and utilization of natural products caused by the diversity of enzyme systems. Effective components such as flavonoids, alkaloids, lignans, and phenols cannot be metabolized directly through human digestive enzymes but can be transformed by enzymes produced by gut microorganisms and then utilized. Therefore, the focus is paid to the metabolism of natural products through the gut microbiota. In the present study, we systematically reviewed the studies about gut microbiota and their effect on the biotransformation of various components of natural products and highlighted the involved common bacteria, reaction types, pharmacological actions, and research methods. This study aims to provide theoretical support for the clinical application in the prevention and treatment of diseases and provide new ideas for studying natural products based on gut biotransformation.

FAD-dependent C-glycoside-metabolizing enzymes in microorganisms: Screening, characterization, and crystal structure analysis

C-glycosides have a unique structure, in which an anomeric carbon of a sugar is directly bonded to the carbon of an aglycone skeleton. One of the natural C-glycosides, carminic acid, is utilized by the food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries, for a total of more than 200 tons/y worldwide. However, a metabolic pathway of carminic acid has never been identified. In this study, we isolated the previously unknown carminic acid-catabolizing microorganism and discovered a flavoenzyme "C-glycoside 3-oxidase" named CarA that catalyzes oxidation of the sugar moiety of carminic acid. A Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) search demonstrated that CarA homologs were distributed in soil microorganisms but not intestinal ones. In addition to CarA, two CarA homologs were cloned and heterologously expressed, and their biochemical properties were determined. Furthermore, a crystal structure of one homolog was determined. Together with the biochemical analysis, the crystal structure and a mutagenesis analysis of CarA revealed the mechanisms underlying their substrate specificity and catalytic reaction. Our study suggests that CarA and its homologs play a crucial role in the metabolism of C-glycosides in nature.