[Partial purification of oxalate degrading enzyme produced by human intestinal bacteria]

It is unclear whether the oxalate in foods degrades or not in the intestinal tract. We isolated oxalic acid decarboxylase from anaerobic bacteria present in human feces which was grown in the culture medium containing oxalic acid as the sole carbon source. The enzyme was partially purified by 80% ammonium chloride precipitation, DEAE-cellulose chromatography and molecular sieve chromatography. The amino acid composition was found to be relatively rich in glycine and alanine, but to have low basic, hydrophobic and aromatic amino acid residues compared with average proteins.