Isolation and characterization of human fecal bacteria capable of 21-dehydroxylating corticoids

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Abstract
Human intestinal flora includes organisms capable of 21-dehydroxylating corticoids. Yet the identity of the organisms synthesizing 21-dehydroxylase remained unknown. Using diluted human feces, the prevalence of colonies of 21-dehydroxylating organisms was determined on a variety of media. Isolation from the medium of colonies with the highest prevalence yielded an obligate anaerobe capable of 21-dehydroxylating deoxycorticosterone and tetrahydrodeoxycorticosterone. This transformation could be carried out in a pre-reduced medium by the microbial culture alone or in an aerobic medium reduced by growth of Escherichia coli. The culture shares many characteristics with Eubacterium lentum, whose neotype strain elaborated 21-dehydroxylase and 3.alpha.-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase.