Metabolism of benzonitrile and butyronitrile by Klebsiella pneumoniae

Journal Article · Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1992 · Applied and Environmental Microbiology; (United States)

OSTI ID:5617109

Nawaz, M S; Heinze, T M; Cerniglia, C E ^[1]

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1. Food and Drug Administration, Jefferson, AK (United States)

A strain of Klebsiella pneumoniae that used aliphatic nitriles as the sole source of nitrogen was adapted to benzonitrile as the sole source of carbon and nitrogen. Gas chromatographic and mass spectral analyses of culture filtrates indicated that K. pneumoniae metabolized 8.4 mM benzonitrile to 4.0 mM benzoic acid and 2.7 mM ammonia. In addition, butyronitrile was metabolized to butyramide and ammonia. The isolate also degraded mixtures of benzonitrile and aliphatic nitriles. Cell extracts contained nitrile hydratase and amidase activities. The enzyme activities were higher with butyronitrile and butyramide than with benzonitrile and benzamide, and amidase activities were twofold higher than nitrile hydratase activities. K. pneumoniae appears promising for the bioremediation of sites contaminated with aliphatic and aromatic nitriles.

• OSTI ID: 5617109
• Journal Information: Applied and Environmental Microbiology; (United States), Vol. 58:1; ISSN 0099-2240
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
KLEBSIELLA
METABOLISM
NITRILES
BIODEGRADATION
AMMONIA
BENZOIC ACID
BIOLOGICAL PATHWAYS
ENZYME ACTIVITY
MIXTURES
BACTERIA
CARBOXYLIC ACIDS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
DECOMPOSITION
DISPERSIONS
HYDRIDES
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
MICROORGANISMS
MONOCARBOXYLIC ACIDS
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NITROGEN HYDRIDES
ORGANIC ACIDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
550500* - Metabolism