Biotransformation of Daidzein, Genistein, and Naringenin by Species Isolated from High-Altitude Soil of Nepal.

Flavonoids have achieved widespread importance in pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetics industries. Furthermore, modification of these naturally occurring flavonoids to structurally diverse compounds through whole cell biotransformation with enhanced biological activities has numerous biotechnological applications. The present study investigated the biotransformation potential of species isolated from a high-altitude-soil sample towards selected flavonoid molecules. The biotransformed metabolites were confirmed by comparing the HPLC chromatogram with authentic compounds and LC-MS/MS analysis. Of these isolates, species G-18 (Accession number: MW663767.1) catalyzed isoflavone molecules daidzein and genistein to produce hydroxylated products at 24 h of reaction condition in a whole cell system. The hydroxylation of daidzein (4',7-dihydroxyisoflavone) was confirmed at 3'-position of the B ring to produce 3',4',7-trihydroxyisoflavone. In addition, species G-14 (Accession number: MW663770.1) and species S4L (Accession number: MW663769.1) also revealed the transformation of daidzein (4',7-dihydroxyisoflavone) to hydroxy daidzein at a distinct position than that of G-18 isolates, whereas thee species S4L reaction mixture with naringenin as a substrate also revealed the hydroxylated product. Our results demonstrated that microorganisms isolated from different ecological niches have broad application.