Abstract

PREVALENCE OF OXALOBACTER FORMIGENES AMONG THE IRAQI POPULATION

Tariq T. Khalaf, Zahra M. Al-Khafaji*

ABSTRACT

Oxalotrophic bacteria depend on oxalic acid for getting energy and as a carbon source .Oxalic acid is toxic substance can not be avoided in human body which can not be metabolized . Humans depend on microflora to manipulate oxalic acid homeostasis . The main member of the microbes is Oxalobacter formigenes , which lower and let getting rid of this substance . The present study aimed to investigate the presence of this bacteria in Iraqi population . Different genders and wide range of age groups (8-40 years) were used . The molecular diagnosis depended on amplification of partial region of 16S rRNA gene as the cultivation of this fastidious bacterium is quite difficult and is very sensitive to antibiotics . Results of 16S rRNA amplification (product 370 bp) , showed that this bacterium found in 46/50 (92%) of the population . The resulted product sequences were aligned with 16S rRNA sequence collection deposited mainly in SILVA database , and GenBank database . The percentage of identity exceed 70% which represents the threshold for depositing the sequences in SILVA database and were about 83%. Phylogenetic analysis using Comamonas terrigena as out group resulted in grouping of Iraqi strains in one cluster , with over all distance of 0.2 using Neighborhood Joining method .

Keywords: Oxalobacter formigenes , 16S rRNA , Probiotics , Oxalic acid , Iraqi population , Phylogeny.