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Aminobacter sp. MSH1 uses the groundwater micropollutant 2,6-dichlorobenzamide (BAM) as sole source of carbon and energy. In the first step, MSH1 converts BAM to 2,6-dichlorobenzoic acid (2,6-DCBA) by means of the BbdA amidase encoded on the IncP-1β plasmid pBAM1. Information about the genes and degradation steps involved in 2,6-DCBA metabolism in MSH1 or any other organism is currently lacking. Here, we show that the genes for 2,6-DCBA degradation in strain MSH1 reside on a second catabolic plasmid in MSH1, designated as pBAM2. The complete sequence of pBAM2 was determined revealing that it is a 53.9 kb repABC family plasmid. The 2,6-DCBA catabolic genes on pBAM2 are organized in two main clusters bordered by IS elements and integrase genes and encode putative functions like Rieske mono-/dioxygenase, meta-cleavage dioxygenase, and reductive dehalogenases. The putative mono-oxygenase encoded by the bbdD gene was shown to convert 2,6-DCBA to 3-hydroxy-2,6-dichlorobenzoate (3-OH-2,6-DCBA). 3-OH-DCBA was degraded by wild-type MSH1 and not by a pBAM2-free MSH1 variant indicating that it is a likely intermediate in the pBAM2-encoded DCBA catabolic pathway. Based on the activity of BbdD and the putative functions of the other catabolic genes on pBAM2, a metabolic pathway for BAM/2,6-DCBA in strain MSH1 was suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The widespread agricultural application of carbofuran and concomitant contamination of surface and ground waters has raised health concerns due to the reported toxic effects of this insecticide and its degradation products. Most bacteria that degrade carbofuran only perform partial degradation involving carbamate hydrolysis without breakdown of the resulting phenolic metabolite. The capacity to mineralize carbofuran beyond the benzofuran ring has been reported for some bacterial strains, especially sphingomonads, and some common metabolites, including carbofuran phenol, were identified. In the current study, the catabolism of carbofuran by Novosphingobium sp. KN65.2 (LMG 28221), a strain isolated from a carbofuran-exposed Vietnamese soil and utilizing the compound as a sole carbon and nitrogen source, was studied. Several KN65.2 plasposon mutants with diminished or abolished capacity to degrade and mineralize carbofuran were generated and characterized. Metabolic profiling of representative mutants revealed new metabolic intermediates, in addition to the initial hydrolysis product carbofuran phenol. The promiscuous carbofuran-hydrolyzing enzyme Mcd, which is present in several bacteria lacking carbofuran ring mineralization capacity, is not encoded by the Novosphingobium sp. KN65.2 genome. An alternative hydrolase gene required for this step was not identified, but the constitutively expressed genes of the unique cfd operon, including the oxygenase genes cfdC and cfdE, could be linked to further degradation of the phenolic metabolite. A third involved oxygenase gene, cfdI, and the transporter gene cftA, encoding a TonB-dependent outer membrane receptor with potential regulatory function, are located outside the cfd cluster. This study has revealed the first dedicated carbofuran catabolic genes and provides insight in the early steps of benzofuran ring degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]