Biomaterial Database

Production of menaquinones by intestinal anaerobes. 1984

K Ramotar, and J M Conly, and H Chubb, and T J Louie

Ninety intestinal organisms (71 isolates from fecal samples of neutropenic patients with cancer or from various sites in patients with intraabdominal infections and 19 control strains) were examined by reverse-phase thin-layer chromatography for their ability to produce menaquinones in vitro. Menaquinones were found in all of 24 organisms of the Bacteroides fragilis group. Two other Bacteroides species, Bacteroides disiens and Bacteroides bivius, also produced menaquinones. A single isolate of Bacteroides species lacked menaquinones. These constituents were found in all of five strains of Escherichia coli, all of four strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae, five of eight strains of Propionibacterium species, two of five strains of Eubacterium species, and the one strain each of Arachnia propionica and Veillonella parvula tested. No menaquinones were detected in organisms of the genera Fusobacterium, Clostridium, Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, Actinomyces, Peptococcus, or Peptostreptococcus. These findings suggest that E. coli, Bacteroides species, and some gram-positive, anaerobic, non-spore-forming bacilli produce menaquinones that may be a source of vitamin K in patients who are deprived of exogenous vitamin K1.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007422	Intestines	The section of the alimentary canal from the STOMACH to the ANAL CANAL. It includes the LARGE INTESTINE and SMALL INTESTINE.	Intestine
D011424	Propionibacterium	A genus of gram-positive, rod-shaped bacteria whose cells occur singly, in pairs or short chains, in V or Y configurations, or in clumps resembling letters of the Chinese alphabet. Its organisms are found in cheese and dairy products as well as on human skin and can occasionally cause soft tissue infections.
D004755	Enterobacteriaceae	A family of gram-negative, facultatively anaerobic, rod-shaped bacteria that do not form endospores. Its organisms are distributed worldwide with some being saprophytes and others being plant and animal parasites. Many species are of considerable economic importance due to their pathogenic effects on agriculture and livestock.	Coliform Bacilli,Enterobacteria,Ewingella,Leclercia,Paracolobactrum,Sodalis
D005051	Eubacterium	A genus of gram-positive, rod-shaped bacteria found in cavities of man and animals, animal and plant products, infections of soft tissue, and soil. Some species may be pathogenic. No endospores are produced. The genus Eubacterium should not be confused with EUBACTERIA, one of the three domains of life.	Butyribacterium
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000191	Actinomycetaceae	A family of bacteria including numerous parasitic and pathogenic forms.
D001419	Bacteria	One of the three domains of life (the others being Eukarya and ARCHAEA), also called Eubacteria. They are unicellular prokaryotic microorganisms which generally possess rigid cell walls, multiply by cell division, and exhibit three principal forms: round or coccal, rodlike or bacillary, and spiral or spirochetal. Bacteria can be classified by their response to OXYGEN: aerobic, anaerobic, or facultatively anaerobic; by the mode by which they obtain their energy: chemotrophy (via chemical reaction) or PHOTOTROPHY (via light reaction); for chemotrophs by their source of chemical energy: CHEMOLITHOTROPHY (from inorganic compounds) or chemoorganotrophy (from organic compounds); and by their source for CARBON; NITROGEN; etc.; HETEROTROPHY (from organic sources) or AUTOTROPHY (from CARBON DIOXIDE). They can also be classified by whether or not they stain (based on the structure of their CELL WALLS) with CRYSTAL VIOLET dye: gram-negative or gram-positive.	Eubacteria
D001439	Bacteroides	A genus of gram-negative, anaerobic, rod-shaped bacteria. Its organisms are normal inhabitants of the oral, respiratory, intestinal, and urogenital cavities of humans, animals, and insects. Some species may be pathogenic.
D013045	Species Specificity	The restriction of a characteristic behavior, anatomical structure or physical system, such as immune response; metabolic response, or gene or gene variant to the members of one species. It refers to that property which differentiates one species from another but it is also used for phylogenetic levels higher or lower than the species.	Species Specificities,Specificities, Species,Specificity, Species
D014678	Veillonella	A genus of gram-negative, anaerobic cocci parasitic in the mouth and in the intestinal and respiratory tracts of man and other animals.