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An Escherichia coli library comprising 8,424 strains incorporating gene fragments of the equol-producing bacterium Slackia sp. strain NATTS was constructed and screened for E. coli strains having daidzein- and dihydrodaidzein (DHD)- metabolizing activity. We obtained 3 clones that functioned to convert daidzein to DHD and 2 clones that converted DHD to equol. We then sequenced the gene fragments inserted into plasmids contained by these 5 clones. All of the gene fragments were contiguous, encoding three open reading frames (ORF-1, -2, and -3). Analysis of E. coli strains containing an expression vector incorporating one of the orf-1, -2, or -3 genes revealed that (i) the protein encoded by orf-1 was involved in the conversion of cis/trans-tetrahydrodaidzein (cis/trans-THD) to equol, (ii) the protein encoded by orf-2 was involved in the conversion of DHD to cis/trans-THD, and (iii) the protein encoded by orf-3 was involved in the conversion of daidzein to DHD. ORF-1 had a primary amino acid structure similar to that of succinate dehydrogenase. ORF-2 was presumed to be an enzyme belonging to the short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase superfamily. ORF-3 was predicted to have 42% identity to the daidzein reductase of Lactococcus strain 20-92 and belonged to the NADH:flavin oxidoreductase family. These findings showed that the daidzein-to-equol conversion reaction in the Slackia sp. NATTS strain proceeds by the action of these three enzymes.
Tsuji et al. (2011) studied this question.