1. The global anaerobic metabolism regulator fnr is necessary for the degradation of food dyes and drugs by Escherichia coli
- Author
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Pieper, Lindsey M, Spanogiannopoulos, Peter, Volk, Regan F, Miller, Carson J, Wright, Aaron T, and Turnbaugh, Peter J
- Subjects
Microbiology ,Biological Sciences ,Digestive Diseases ,Nutrition ,Microbiome ,2.2 Factors relating to the physical environment ,Aetiology ,Oral and gastrointestinal ,Infection ,Humans ,Coloring Agents ,Anaerobiosis ,Escherichia coli ,Bacteria ,Azo Compounds ,Escherichia coli Proteins ,Iron-Sulfur Proteins ,Bacterial Proteins ,Human gut microbiome ,xenobiotic metabolism ,excipients ,azoreductases ,anaerobiosis ,hydrogen sulfide ,sulfide ,L-Cysteine ,FNR ,fnrS ,hydrogen sulfide ,Biochemistry and cell biology ,Medical microbiology - Abstract
ImportanceThis work has broad relevance due to the ubiquity of dyes containing azo bonds in food and drugs. We report that azo dyes can be degraded by human gut bacteria through both enzymatic and nonenzymatic mechanisms, even from a single gut bacterial species. Furthermore, we revealed that environmental factors, oxygen, and L-Cysteine control the ability of E. coli to degrade azo dyes due to their impacts on bacterial transcription and metabolism. These results open up new opportunities to manipulate the azoreductase activity of the gut microbiome through the manipulation of host diet, suggest that azoreductase potential may be altered in patients suffering from gastrointestinal disease, and highlight the importance of studying bacterial enzymes for drug metabolism in their natural cellular and ecological context.
- Published
- 2023