Oxalobacter formigenes is an oxalate

Oxalate

Oxalate , is the dianion with formula C2O42− also written 22−. Either name is often used for derivatives, such as disodium oxalate, 2C2O42−, or an ester of oxalic acid Oxalate (IUPAC: ethanedioate), is the dianion with formula C2O42− also written (COO)22−. Either...

-degrading anaerobic

Anaerobic organism

An anaerobic organism or anaerobe is any organism that does not require oxygen for growth. It could possibly react negatively and may even die if oxygen is present...

 bacterium that colonizes the large intestine

Large intestine

The large intestine is the third-to-last part of the digestive system — — in vertebrate animals. Its function is to absorb water from the remaining indigestible food matter, and then to pass useless waste material from the body...

 of numerous vertebrate

Vertebrate

Vertebrates are animals that are members of the subphylum Vertebrata . Vertebrates are the largest group of chordates, with currently about 58,000 species described. Vertebrates include the jawless fishes, bony fishes, sharks and rays, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds...

s, including humans. O. formigenes and humans share a beneficial symbiosis

Symbiosis

Symbiosis is close and often long-term interaction between different biological species. In 1877 Bennett used the word symbiosis to describe the mutualistic relationship in lichens...

.

Quinolone

Quinolone

The quinolones are a family of synthetic broad-spectrum antibiotics. The term quinolone refers to potent synthetic chemotherapeutic antibacterials....

, a broad-spectrum antibiotic

Broad-spectrum antibiotic

The term broad-spectrum antibiotic refers to an antibiotic that acts against a wide range of disease-causing bacteria. A broad-spectrum antibiotic acts against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, in contrast to a narrow-spectrum antibiotic, which is effective against specific families of...

, kills O. formigenes. If a person's gastrointestinal tract lacks this bacterium, and therefore lacks the primary source for the Oxalyl-CoA decarboxylase

Oxalyl-CoA decarboxylase

In enzymology, an oxalyl-CoA decarboxylase is an enzyme primarily produced by the gastrointestinal bacterium Oxalobacter formigenes that catalyzes the chemical reaction...

 enzyme, then the GI tract cannot degrade calcium oxalate

Calcium oxalate

Calcium oxalate is a chemical compound that forms needle-shaped crystals, known in plants as raphides. A major constituent of human kidney stones, the chemical is also found in beerstone, a scale that forms on containers used in breweries...

. Such an imbalance may facilitate the formation of Calcium Oxalate based kidney stone

Kidney stone

A kidney stone, also known as a renal calculus is a solid concretion or crystal aggregation formed in the kidneys from dietary minerals in the urine...

s.

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