Oxalobacter formigenes

Oxalobacter formigenes
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Bacteria
Phylum:	Proteobacteria
Order:	Burkholderiales
Family:	Oxalobacteraceae
Genus:	Oxalobacter
Species:	O. formigenes
Binomial name
Oxalobacter formigenes

Oxalobacter formigenes is an oxalate-degrading anaerobic bacterium that colonizes the large intestine of numerous vertebrates, including humans. O. formigenes and humans share a beneficial symbiosis.

Quinolone, a broad-spectrum antibiotic, kills O. formigenes. If a person's gastrointestinal tract lacks this bacterium, and therefore lacks the primary source for the Oxalyl-CoA decarboxylase enzyme, then the GI tract cannot degrade calcium oxalate. Such an imbalance may facilitate the formation of Calcium Oxalate based kidney stones.^[1]

1. ^ (interim reference, describes two other studies)