Isolation of a human intestinal bacterium capable of transforming barbaloin to aloe-emodin anthrone.

A strictly anaerobic bacterium, Eubacterium sp. BAR, was isolated from human feces as one of the intestinal bacteria capable of metabolizing barbaloin. The bacterium grew in PYF broth containing barbaloin and converted barbaloin to aloe-emodin anthrone. On the other hand, the bacterium had little metabolic activity in GAM broth.