Hydrocarbon Metabolism by 'Brevibacterium erythrogenes':Normal and Branched Alkanes.

摘要

Branched and straight chain hydrocarbons are metabolized by Brevibacterium erythrogenes by means of two distinct pathways. Normal alkanes are degraded,after terminal oxidation,by the beta-oxidation system operational in fatty acid catabolism. Branched alkanes like pristane and 2-methylundecane are degraded as dicarboxylic acids,which also undergo beta-oxidation. Pristane-derived intermediates are observed to accumulate,with time,as a series of dicarboxylic acid pathway is not observed in the presence of normal alkanes. Release of (14)CO2from 1-(14)C-pristane is delayed,or entirely inhibited,in the presence of n-hexadecane,while CO2release from n-hexadecane remains unaffected. These results suggest an inducible dicarboxylic acid pathway for degradation of branched chain alkanes. (Author)