Isolation and Genetic Characterization of Phenol-Utilizing Marine Bacteria and Their Phenol Degradation Pathway

摘要: Phenolic compounds are widely distributed toxic pollutants in seawater, and their effective degradation is very important for bioremediation programs. In this study, nine phenol-degrading bacteria were isolated from seawater samples, which collected the coastal areas of Japan. Besides enrichment substrate phenol, all isolates could utilize at least one isomer cresol as sole source carbon. A 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that strains affiliated with class Gammaproteobacteria, four closely related to Spongiibacter, Marinobacter, was Photobacterium. During growth on produced a yellow product, whole-cell study it an extradiol meta-ring cleavage product catechol, 2-hydroxymuconate semialdehyde. Phylogenetic revealed partial encoding largest subunit multicomponent phenol hydroxylase similar terrestrial bacteria, thereby suggesting converted into catechol by marine bacteria. We also suggest horizontal transfer may occur not only among but between genera Marinobacter Pseudomonas.