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Benzothiazole Degradation by Rhodococcus pyridinovorans Strain PA: Evidence of a Catechol 1,2-Dioxygenase Activity

Laboratoire de Synthèse et Etude de Systèmes à Intérêt Biologique, UMR 6504 CNRS-Université Blaise Pascal, 63177 Aubière Cedex, France,¹ Department of Water Quality Control, Technical University of Berlin, Sekr KF 4, 10623 Berlin, Germany,² Division of Microbiology, School of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology,³ School of Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, United Kingdom⁴

Received 24 June 2002/ Accepted 9 September 2002

The pathway for biodegradation of benzothiazole (BT) and 2-hydroxybenzothiazole (OBT) by Rhodococcus pyridinovorans strain PA was studied in detail. The kinetics of biodegradation were monitored by in situ ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) in parallel with reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Successive oxidations from BT to OBT and then from OBT to dihydroxybenzothiazole were observed. Further insight was obtained by using a mutant strain with impaired ability to grow on BT and OBT. The precise structure of another intermediate was determined by in situ two-dimensional ¹H-¹³C NMR and HPLC-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry; this intermediate was found to be a ring-opening product (a diacid structure). Detection of this metabolite, together with the results obtained by ¹H and ¹⁹F NMR when cells were incubated with 3-fluorocatechol, demonstrated that a catechol 1,2-dioxygenase is involved in a pathway for biodegradation of BTs in this Rhodococcus strain. Our results show that catechol 1,2-dioxygenase and catechol 2,3-dioxygenase activities may both be involved in the biodegradation of BTs depending on the culture conditions.

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