Isolation and identification of rumen bacteria capable of anaerobic rutin degradation

Abstract

Fifteen strains of bacteria capable of degrading rutin anaerobically were isolated from bovine rumen contents and identified by morphological and biochemical evidence as strains of Butyrivibrio sp. Three cultures from a laboratory collection of 53 strains of rumen bacteria also used rutin anaerobically. Two, Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens D1 and Selenomonas ruminantium GA192, cleaved the glycosidic bond of rutin and fermented the sugar but did not degrade the insoluble aglycone produced; the third strain, Peptostreptococcus sp. B178, degraded the substrate to soluble products. Butyrivibrio sp. C3 degraded rutin, quercitrin, and naringin to water-soluble products, showing that the organism cleaved the heterocyclic ring of these compounds. Butyrivibrio sp. C3 fermented the sugar moiety of hesperidin but did not cleave the heterocyclic ring. It did not attack quercetin, taxifolin, protocatechuic acid, or phloroglucinol. In a medium containing rumen fluid, Butyrivibrio sp. C3 degraded rutin more than twice as fast as it did in a medium containing enzymatic casein hydrolyzate, volatile fatty acids, yeast extract, and hemin in place of rumen fluid.The observations reported in this paper are believed to represent the first recorded demonstration of degradation of the heterocyclic ring structure of rutin and other bioflavonoids in pure cultures of anaerobic bacteria.