Abstract
In silico analysis of nucleotide sequences flanking the recently found hydroquinone dioxygenase in Sphingomonas sp. strain TTNP3 revealed a gene cluster that encodes a hydroquinone catabolic pathway. In addition to the two open-reading frames encoding the recently characterized hydroquinone dioxygenase, the cluster consisted of six open-reading frames. We were able to express the three open-reading frames, hqdC, hqdD, and hqdE, and demonstrated that the three gene products, HqdC, HqdD, and HqdE had 4-hydroxymuconic semialdehyde dehydrogenase, maleylacetate reductase, and intradiol dioxygenase activity, respectively. Surprisingly, the gene cluster showed similarities to functionally related clusters found in members of the β- and γ-proteobacteria rather than to those found in other members of the genus Sphingomonas sensu latu.
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BAK and FLPG were funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation grant SNF-200021-120547. JF and CV were funded by the EC Grant Agreement 265946. We thank Dr. Stefan Kaschabek (University Freiberg) for generously providing a sample of cis-butenolide.
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Kolvenbach, B.A., Dobrowinski, H., Fousek, J. et al. An unexpected gene cluster for downstream degradation of alkylphenols in Sphingomonas sp. strain TTNP3. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 93, 1315–1324 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-011-3451-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-011-3451-8