A new, major C27 biliary bile acid in the red-winged tinamou (Rhynchotus rufescens):25R-1beta, 3alpha,7alpha-trihydroxy-5beta-cholestan-27-oic acid.

The chemical structures of the three major bile acids present in the gallbladder bile of the Red-winged tinamou (Rhynchotus rufescens), an early evolving, ground-living bird related to ratites, were determined. Bile acids were isolated by preparative reversed-phase HPLC. Two of the compounds were identified as the taurine N-acylamidates of 25R-3alpha,7alpha-dihydroxy-5beta-cholestan-27-oic acid (constituting 22% of biliary bile acids) and 25R-3alpha,7alpha,12alpha-trihydroxy-5beta-cholestan-27-oic acid (constituting 51%). The remaining compound, constituting 21% of biliary bile acids, was an unknown C27 bile acid. Its structure was elucidated by LC/ESI-MS/MS and NMR and shown to be the taurine conjugate of 25R-1beta, 3alpha, 7alpha-trihydroxy-5beta-cholestan-27-oic acid, a C27 trihydroxy bile acid not previously reported. Although C27 bile acids with a 1beta-hydroxyl group have been identified as trace bile acids in the alligator, this is the first report of a major biliary C27 bile acid possessing a 1beta-hydroxyl group.