Pentachlorophenol (PCP) hydroxylase, the first enzyme in the pathway for degradation of PCP in Sphingobium chlorophenolicum, is an unusually slow flavin-dependent monooxygenase (k(cat) = 0.02 s⁻¹) that converts PCP to a highly reactive product, tetrachlorobenzoquinone (TCBQ). Using stopped-flow spectroscopy, we have shown that the steps up to and including formation of TCBQ are rapid (5-30 s⁻¹)...

The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of a non-biodegradable (Tergitol NP-10) and a biodegradable (Tween-80) surfactant on growth, degradation rate and microbial dynamics of a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) degrading consortium (C2PL05) from a petroleum polluted soil, applying cultivable and non cultivable techniques. Growth and degradation rate were significantly lower with T...

Pentachlorophenol 4-monooxygenase (PcpB) catalyzes the hydroxylation of pentachlorophenol in the pentachlorophenol biodegradation pathway in Sphingobium chlorophenolicum. Previous studies from two different research groups proposed oppositely that the catalytic product of PcpB was tetrachlorohydroquinone (TCHQ) and tetrachlorobenzoquinone (TCBQ). We re-examined the identity of the catalytic pro...

A novel esterase gene, pytH, encoding a pyrethroid-hydrolyzing carboxylesterase was cloned from Sphingobium sp. strain JZ-1. The gene contained an open reading frame of 840 bp. Sequence identity searches revealed that the deduced enzyme shared the highest similarity with many alpha/beta-hydrolase fold proteins (20 to 24% identities). PytH was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 and purified usin...

1,8-Cineole is an abundant natural product that has the potential to be transformed into other building blocks that could be suitable alternatives to petroleum-based chemicals. Mono-hydroxy-lation of 1,8-cineole can potentially occur at eight different carbon sites around the bicyclic ring system. Using cytochrome P450 monooxygenase CYP101J2 from Sphingobium yanoikuyae B2, the hy-droxy-lation c...