Maeda Michihisa    Department   Undergraduate School  , School of Agriculture    Position   Professor
Language	English
Publication Date	1995/02
Type	Academic Journal
Title	Multiple genes encoding 2,3-dihydroxybiphenyl 1,2-dioxygenase in the Gram-positive polychlorinated biphenyl-degrading bacterium Rhodococcus erythropolis TA421,isolated from termite ecosystem
Contribution Type	Co-authored (first author)
Journal	Appl. Environ. Microbiol.
Volume, Issue, Page	61(22),pp.549-555
Author and coauthor	M. Maeda, S. -Y. Chung, E. Song and T. Kudo
Details	Rhodococcus erythropolis TA421 was isolated from a termite ecosystem and is able to degrade a wide range of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners. Genetic and biochem. analyses of the PCB catabolic pathway of this organism revealed that there are 4 different bphC genes (bphC1, bphC2, bphC3, and bphC4) which encode 2,3-dihydroxybiphenyl dioxygenases. As detd. by Southern hybridization, none of the bphC genes exhibits homol. to any other bphC gene. BphC1, bphC2, and bphC4 encode enzymes that have narrow substrate specificities and cleave the first arom. ring in the meta position. In contrast, bphC3 encodes a meta cleavage dioxygenase with broad substrate specificity. J. A. Asturias et al. (1994) have shown that the closely related organism Rhodococcus globerulus P6 contains 3 different bphC genes (bphC1, bphC2, and bphC3) which encode meta cleavage dioxygenases. The data suggest that there is a diverse family of bphC genes which encode PCB meta cleavage dioxygenases in members of the genus Rhodococcus.