Abstract
The biphenyl-mineralizing bacterium Burkholderia sp. strain LB400 also utilized 3-chloro-, 4-chloro-, 2,3′-dichloro- and 2,4′-dichlorobiphenyl for growth. By the attack of the initial enzyme a chlorine was eliminated dioxygenolytically from position 2 of one of the aromatic rings when hydrogens of both were substituted by chlorine. The strain mineralized 3-chloro- and 2,3′-dichlorobiphenyl via the central intermediate 3-chlorobenzoate through its chlorocatechol pathway enzymes, but excreted stoichiometric amounts of 4-chlorobenzoate from 4-chloro- and 2,4′-dichlorobiphenyl. These two compounds were mineralized by a co-culture of strain LB400 and a derivative of the (methyl-) benzoate-degrading strain Pseudomonas putida mt-2 (TOL). The complete degradation was achieved upon transfer of a cluster of at least five genes, encoding the regulated chlorocatechol pathway operon, from strain LB400 to strain mt-2. This transfer was demonstrated by the polymerase chain reaction.
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Received: 15 April 1998 / Received revision: 12 June 1998 / Accepted: 19 June 1998
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Potrawfke, T., Löhnert, TH., Timmis, K. et al. Mineralization of low-chlorinated biphenyls by Burkholderia sp. strain LB400 and by a two-membered consortium upon directed interspecies transfer of chlorocatechol pathway genes. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 50, 440–446 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/s002530051318
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s002530051318