Metabolism of Soy Isoflavones by Intestinal Bacteria: Genome Analysis of an Strain That Does Not Produce Equol

Isoflavones are transformed in the gut into more estrogen-like compounds or into inactive molecules. However, neither the intestinal microbes nor the pathways leading to the synthesis of isoflavone-derived metabolites are fully known. In the present work, 73 fecal isolates from three women with an equol-producing phenotype were considered to harbor equol-related genes by qPCR. After typing, 57 different strains of different taxa were tested for their ability to act on the isoflavones daidzein and genistein. Strains producing small to moderate amounts of dihydrodaidzein and/or -desmethylangolensin (-DMA) from daidzein and dihydrogenistein from genistein were recorded. However, either alone or in several strain combinations, equol producers were not found, even though one of the strains, W18.34a (also known as IPLA37004), was identified as , a well-described equol-producing species. Analysis and comparison of W18.34a and DSM19450 (an equol producer bacterium) genome sequences suggested a deletion in the former involving a large part of the equol operon. Furthermore, genome comparison of and (other equol-producing species) strains from databases indicated many of these also showed deletions within the equol operon. The present results contribute to our knowledge to the activity of gut bacteria on soy isoflavones.