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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 2007, p. 7373-7379, Vol. 73, No. 22
0099-2240/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.01478-07
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Identification of opdA, a Gene Involved in Biodegradation of the Endocrine Disrupter Octylphenol{triangledown}

A. W. Porter1 and A. G. Hay1,2*

Department of Microbiology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York,1 Institute for Comparative and Environmental Toxicology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York2

Received 2 July 2007/ Accepted 14 September 2007

Octylphenol (OP) is an estrogenic detergent breakdown product. Structurally similar nonylphenols are transformed via type II ispo substitution, resulting in the production of hydroquinone and removal of the branched side chain. Nothing is known, however, about the gene(s) encoding this activity. We report here on our efforts to clone the gene(s) encoding OP degradation activity from Sphingomonas sp. strain PWE1, which we isolated for its ability to grow on OP. A fosmid library of PWE1 DNA yielded a single clone, aew4H12, which accumulated a brown polymerization product in the presence of OP. Sequence analysis of loss-of-function transposon mutants of aew4H12 revealed a single open reading frame, opdA, that conferred OP degradation activity. Escherichia coli subclones expressing opdA caused OP disappearance, with the concomitant production of hydroquinone and 2,4,4-trimethyl-1-pentene as well as small amounts of 2,4,4-trimethyl-2-pentanol. These metabolites are consistent with a type II ipso substitution reaction, the same mechanism described for nonylphenol biodegradation in other sphingomonads. Based on opdA's sequence homology to a unique group of putative flavin monooxygenases and the recovery of hydroxylated OP intermediates from E. coli expressing opdA, we conclude that this gene encodes the observed type II ipso substitution activity responsible for the initial step in OP biodegradation.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853. Phone: (607) 255-3086. Fax: (607) 255-3904. E-mail: agh5{at}cornell.edu

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 21 September 2007.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 2007, p. 7373-7379, Vol. 73, No. 22
0099-2240/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.01478-07
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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