Iodothyronine sulfate-hydrolyzing anaerobic bacteria isolated from human fecal flora

23 Bacterial strains isolated from human fecal flora were screened for hydrolysis of iodothyronine sulfates. Three obligate anaerobic bacterial strains possessed sulfatase activity. Two strains were identified as Peptostreptococcus productus, the other strain probably belonged to the genus Eubacterium or Lachnospira. In anaerobic incubations with growing bacteria up to 78% of the iodothyronine sulfates were deconjugated in 24 h. Hydrolysis was dependent on the bacterial strains and on the iodothyronine sulfates tested. This study extents previous observations of similar iodothyronine sulfatase activities associated with bacteria from rat intestinal microflora [5]. By analogy, hydrolysis of iodothyronine sulfates by anaerobic bacteria from human intestinal microflora probably represents an exo-enzymatic process.