Production of optically active hexahydrocurcumin by human intestinal bacterium in vitro

Abstract

A hexahydrocurcumin-producing bacterium named 2a1-2b was isolated from human feces. It was observed that the bacterium had more than 99% similarity with Enterococcus avium ATCC14025T according to 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequence. The strain 2a1-2b produced optically active 5R-hexahydrocurcumin (enantiomeric excess (e.e.)>95%) from tetrahydrocurcumin but not from curcumin. Our results showed that intestine is an important place for producing hexahydrocurcumin.