Mechanism of anaerobic degradation of triethanolamine by a homoacetogenic bacterium
- Dipartimento di Chimica Organica e Industriale, Universita degli Studi di Milano, via Venezian 21, I-20133 Milan (Italy)
- Fakultaet fuer Biologie, Universitaet Konstanz, Universitatsstr. 10, D-78457 Constance (Germany)
Triethanolamine (TEA) is converted into acetate and ammonia by a strictly anaerobic, gram-positive Acetobacterium strain LuTria3. Fermentation experiments with resting cell suspensions and specifically deuterated substrates indicate that in the acetate molecule the carboxylate and the methyl groups correspond to the alcoholic function and to its adjacent methylene group, respectively, of the 2-hydroxyethyl unit of TEA. A 1,2 shift of a hydrogen (deuterium) atom from -CH{sub 2} -O- to =N-CH{sub 2} - without exchange with the medium was observed. This fact gives evidence that a radical mechanism occurs involving the enzyme and/or coenzyme molecule as a hydrogen carrier. Such a biodegradation appears analogous to the conversion of 2-phenoxyethanol into acetate mediated by another strain of the anaerobic homoacetogenic bacterium Acetobacterium.
- OSTI ID:
- 20854520
- Journal Information:
- Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Vol. 349, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2006.08.001; PII: S0006-291X(06)01775-X; Copyright (c) 2006 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0006-291X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Haloanaerobium salsugo sp. nov., a moderately halophilic, anaerobic bacterium from a subterranean brine
Synthesis and function of polyhydroxyalkanoates in anaerobic syntrophic bacteria