Detection of genes for alkane and naphthalene catabolism in Rhodococcus sp. strain 1BN

摘要

Rhodococcus sp. 1BN was isolated from a contami-nated site and showed various biodegradative capabilities. Besides naphthalene, strain 1BN degraded medium- (C_6) and long-chain alkanes (C_(16)-C_(28)), benzene and toluene, alone or when the hydrocarbons were mixed in equal proportions. The nucleotide sequence of an alk polymerase chain reaction (PCR) fragment revealed a 59% nucleotide homology to the Pseudomonas oleovorans alkB gene. The nar fragments were highly homologous to genes coding for large and small subunits of cis-naphthalene 1, 2-dioxy-genase (narAa and narAb) and to cis-naphthalene dihydrodiol dehydrogenase (narB) from other rhodococci. The oxidation of indene to cis-(1S, 2R)-1, 2-dihydroxyindan by toluene-induced cells allows to hypothesize that strain 1BN also carries a toluene dioxygenase-like system.