Title Plant Terpene-Induced Expression of Multiple Aromatic Ring Hydroxylation Oxygenase Genes in Rhodococcus sp. Strain T104
Author Byung-Hyuk Kim 1 , Eun-Taex Oh 2 , Jae-Seong So 2 , Yeonghee Ahn 3 , and Sung-Cheol Koh 1 , *
Address 1 Division of Civil and Environmental Systems Engineering, Korea Maritime University, Busan 606-791, Korea; 2 Department of Biological Engineering, Center of Advanced Bioseparation Technology, Inha University, Inchon 402-751, Korea; 3 Department of Environmental Engineering and Science, Kwangju Institute of Science & Technology, Kwangju 500-712, Korea
Bibliography Journal of Microbiology, 41(4),349-352, 2003,
DOI
Key Words Rhodococcus sp., DGGE, RT-PCR, PCBs, aromatic oxygenases, plant terpenes
Abstract Recent studies have shown that some of the PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl)-degraders are able to effectively degrade PCB in the presence of monoterpenes, which act as inducers for the degradation pathway. Rhodococcus sp. T104, an effective PCB degrader, has been shown to induce the degradation pathway by utilizing limonenes, cymenes, carvones, and pinenes as sole carbon sources which can be found in the natural environment. Moreover, the strain T104 proved to possess three separate oxidation pathways of limonene, biphenyl, and phenol. Of these three, the limonene can also induce the biphenyl degradation pathway. In this work, we report the presence of three distinct genes for aromatic oxygenase, which are putatively involved in the degradation of aromatic substrates including biphenyl, limonene, and phenol, through PCR amplification and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). The genes were differentially expressed and well induced by limonene, cymene, and plant extract A compared to biphenyl and/or glucose. This indicates that substrate specificity must be taken into account when biodegradation of the target compounds are facilitated by the plant natural substrates.
Download PDF 414-14.pdf