US EPA

1345034 

Journal Article 

IDENTIFICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF A TRANSMISSIBLE LINEAR PLASMID FROM RHODOCOCCUS-ERYTHROPOLIS BD2 THAT ENCODES ISOPROPYLBENZENE AND TRICHLOROETHENE CATABOLISM 

Dabrock, B; Kesseler, M; Averhoff, B; Gottschalk, G 

1994 

Yes 

Applied and Environmental Microbiology
ISSN: 0099-2240
EISSN: 1098-5336 

BIOSIS/94/11980 

60 

3 

853-860 

English 

8161179 

WOS:A1994MZ13700013 

Rhodococcus erythropolis BD2, which is able to utilize isopropylbenzene as a sole carbon and energy source, was shown to contain a conjugative linear plasmid, pBD2. The estimated size of pBD2 is 208 to 212 kb. Linear plasmid-deficient strains had lost both the isopropylbenzene degradation and trichloroethene degradation characteristics, as well as the arsenite resistance and mercury resistance phenotypes. Reintroduction of pBD2 restored all four characteristics. Conjugational transfer of pBD2 to a plasmidless mutant of strain BD2 and other R. erythropolis strains occurred at frequencies between 3.5 x 10(-5) and 2.6 x 10(-3) transconjugants per recipient. R. erythropolis BD2 degrades isopropylbenzene via 3-isopropylcatechol and 2-hydroxy-6-oxo-7-methylocta-2,4-dienoate. Both isopropylbenzene-oxidizing and meta-cleavage activities were shown to correspond with the presence of pBD2. Southern hybridizations with DNA encoding the toluene dioxygenase structural genes (todC1C2BA) from Pseudomonas putida F1 revealed homology to linear plasmid DNA. These results indicate that the isopropylbenzene degradation pathway encoded by linear plasmid pBD2 is initiated by an isopropylbenzene dioxygenase analogous to toluene dioxygenase. 

Comparative Biochemistry; Biochemical Studies-Nucleic Acids; Biochemical Studies-Minerals; Enzymes-General and Comparative Studies; Enzymes-Chemical and Physical; Metabolism-General Metabolism; Metabolism-Nucleic Acids; Toxicology-General; Toxicology-Antidotes and Preventative Toxicology (1972- ); Physiology and Biochemistry of Bacteria; Genetics of Bacteria and Viruses; Food and Industrial Microbiology-Biodegradation and Biodeterioration; Pseudomonadaceae (1992- ); Nocardioform Actinomycetes (1992- )