Abstracts Six shikonin metabolites were obtained from human intestinal bacteria, Bacteriodes fragilis subsp. thetaotus. following biotransformation. The transformation of shikonin (1) was performed anaerobically for 3 day at $37^{circ}C$ in thc bacterial suspension of B. Fagilis which was cultured overnight in GAM broth. The incubation mixture vas extracted with EtGAc Lo give a dark-brown residue. The residue was apphed to a silica gel column, which was eluted successively with hexane (Fr. A), $CHCl_3$ (Fr. B), and $CHCl_3$:MeOH (9:I) (Fr. C). Six metabolites. Fr.A (2 and 3), Fr. B (6 and 7), and Fr. C (4 and 5) were isolated by repeated silica gel column chromatography, preparatlVe TLC, followed by Sephadex LH-20. In vitro cytotoxicities were tested against human tumor cell lines; PC-3 (prostate), ACHN (renal), A549 (lung), SW620 (colon), KS62 (leukemia), and Du145 (prostate). The shikonin metabolites 2. 4, 5, and 6 showed weaker cytotoxicity than the parenL shikonin (1). whereas shikonin monomenc metabolite 3 ($ED_{50}{;}O.44-{;}1.22{;}mu extrm{g}/ml$) and dimeric metabolite 7 ($ED_{50}{;}O.48-{;}2.35{;}mu extrm{g}/ml$) exhibited stronger activities compared with adriamycin, which was used as the positive control.ontrol.