ArticleNature microbiology2025
Gut bacteria degrade purines via the 2,8-dioxopurine pathway.
Article in Nature microbiology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed.
- Revisiting gut microbiota-driven ammonia metabolism: from disease burden to physiological adaptation.Gut microbes · 2026Review
- Gut microbiota metabolic reprogramming drives the development of metabolic diseases in the host.Gut microbes · 2026Review
- Gut microbiota-mediated uric acid metabolism: Novel insights for developing urate-lowering and anti-gout medications.Pharmaceutical science advances · 2026Review
- gutSMASH 2.0: Extended Identification of Primary Metabolic Gene Clusters From the Human Gut Microbiota.Journal of molecular biology · 2026Article
- Mechanisms of Gut Microbiota-Derived Metabolites in Treating Hyperuricemia: Natural Products as Interventions.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- The microbiome regulates host metabolic health and diseases through microbial enzymes.Nature reviews. Gastroenterology & hepatology · 2026Review
- Oral supplementation ofApplied and environmental microbiology · 2026Article
- Isolation and Mechanistic Characterization ofFoods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Urate metabolism in the gut.Life metabolism · 2026Article
- The gut-joint axis in gout: microbial outer membrane vesicles and mFrontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Research progress on the correlation between gut microbiota and the occurrence of hyperuricemia.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Review
- The presence and induction of regioselective dehydroxylases dictate urolithin metabolism by Enterocloster species.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2025Article
- IsoPairFinder: A tool for biochemical pathway discovery using stable isotope tracing metabolomics.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Approximately one-third of urate, which at elevated levels contributes to hyperuricaemia and gout, is excreted into the intestinal tract of healthy individuals where bacteria aid its elimination. However, the molecular details of purine metabolism in the gut microbiome are unclear. Here we uncovered the 2,8-dioxopurine pathway, an anaerobic route for purine degradation in the gut bacteria, Clostridium sporogenes and Escherichia coli. Reconstitution with purified enzymes and mutational analysis combined with isotope tracking and mass spectrometry identified a selenium-dependent enzyme, 2,8-dioxopurine dehydrogenase (DOPDH), and seven additional enzymes that connect purine metabolism to short-chain fatty acid synthesis and ATP generation (measured via luciferase assay). Competition experiments in gnotobiotic mice showed that bacteria harbouring this pathway exhibit a fitness advantage, with wild-type bacteria rapidly outcompeting a DOPDH-deficient strain. Widespread presence of these genes across host-associated microbiomes suggests a host-microbe symbiosis, where host-secreted urate fosters a metabolic niche for bacteria that break it down. These findings could have therapeutic implications for the modification and enhancement of intestinal elimination of urate.
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