Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T08:12:41.606Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Determinants of biodegradability

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 March 2009

Stanley Dagley
Stanley Dagley
Affiliation:
Department of Biochemistry, College of Biological Sciences, University of Minnesota, St Paul, Minnesota 55108
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

As a consequence of the activities of modern industry and agriculture, many made-made organic compounds have found their way into our environment, and by persisting there for varying periods of time have caused concern to society. Why do some chemicals persist while others disappear? Detailed answers to this question require an understanding of the degradative segment of the earth's carbon cycle, most of the reactions of which are catalysed by enzymes used by microbes. These organisms owe much of their degradative expertise to their ability to render oxygen gas chemically reactive. This is a process that would be extremely dangerous for any living organism if it were carried out in a haphazard or accidental fashion; but when catalysed and cantrolled by enzymes (oxygenases) of micro-organisms, reaction sequences are started that result in biodegradation of compounds that resist the enzymes of all other living forms.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quarterly Reviews of Biophysics , Volume 11 , Issue 4 , November 1978 , pp. 577 - 602
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1978

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bartha, R. (1971). Fate of herbicide derived chioroanalines in soil. J. agric. Fd Chem. 19, 385–387.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blumer, M (1961). Benzpyrenes in soil. Science N.Y. 134, 474–475.Google Scholar
Chapman, P. J. & Ribbons, D. W. (1976). Metabolism of resorcinylic compounds by bacteria: alternative pathways for resorcinol catabolism in P. putida. J. Bact. 125, 985–998.Google Scholar
Dagley, S. (1954) Dissimilation of citric acid by Aerobacter aerogenes and Escherichia coli. J. gen. Microbiol. 11, 218–227.Google Scholar
Dagley, S. (1971). Catabolism of aromatic compounds by microorganisms. Adv. Microb. Physiol. 6, 1–46.Google Scholar
Dagley, S. (1972). In Degradation of Synthetic Organic Molecules in the Biosphere, p. 338 of the summary. Washington, D.C.: Printing and Publishing Office, National Academy of Sciences,Google Scholar
Dagley, S. (1975). A biochemical approach to some problems of environmental pollution. Essays Biochem. 11, 81–138.Google Scholar
Dagley, S. (1977) Microbial degradation of organic compounds in the biosphere. Survey of Frog. Chem. 8, 121–170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dagley, S., Chapman, P. J., Gibson, D. T. & Wood, J. M. (1964). Degradation of the benzene nucleus by bacteria. Nature, Lond. 202, 775–778.Google Scholar
Dagley, S. & Patel, M.D. (1957). Oxidation of p–cresol and related compounds by a Pseudornonas. Biochem. J. 66, 227–233.Google Scholar
Daughton, C. G. & Hsieh, D. P. H. (1977). Parathion utilization by bacterial symbionts in a chemostat. Appl. & Environ. Microbiol. 34, 175–184.Google Scholar
Dickerson, R. E., Timkovich, R. & Almassy, R. J. (1976). The cytochrome fold and the evolution of bacterial energy metabolism. J. Molec. Biol. 100, 473–491.Google Scholar
Evans, W. C., Fernley, H. N. & Griffiths, E. (1965). Oxidative metabolism of phenanthrene and anthracene by soil pseudomonads. The ringfission mechanism. Biochem. J. 95, 819–831.Google Scholar
Focht, D. D. & Alexander, M. (1971). Aerobic cometabolism of DDT analogues by Hydrogenomonas sp. J. agric. Fd Chem. 19, 20–22.Google Scholar
Fridovich, I. (1974). Superoxide and evolution. Horiz. Biochem. & Biophys. 1, 1–38.Google Scholar
Gibson, D. T. (1972). Initial reactions in the degradation of aromatic hydrocarbons. In Degradation of Synthetic Organic Molecules in the Biosphere, pp. 116–136. Washington, D.C.: Printing and Publishing Office, National Academy of Sciences.Google Scholar
Gibson, D. T., Roberts, R. L., Wells, M. C. & Kobal, V. M. (1972). Oxidation of biphenyl by a Beijerinckia species. Biochem. biophys. Res. Commun. 50, 211–219.Google Scholar
Goldman, P. (1972). Enzymology of carbon–halogen bonds. In Degradation of Synthetic Organic Molecules in the Biosphere, pp. 147–165. Washington, D.C.: Printing and Publishing Office, National Academy of Sciences.Google Scholar
Hopper, D. J. & Chapman, P. J. (1971). Gentisic acid and its 3-and 4-methy-substituted homologues as intermediates in the bacterial degradation of m–cresol, 3,5-xylenol and 2,5-xylenol. Biochem. J. 122, 19–28.Google Scholar
Jensen, H. L. (1960). Decomposition of chloroacetates and chloropropionates by bacteria. Acta Agric. scand. 10, 83–103.Google Scholar
Kaufman, D. D., Plimmer, J. R. & Klingebiel, U. I. (1973) Microbial oxidation of 4-chloroaniline. J. agric. Fd Chem. 21, 127–132.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kirk, T. K., Connors, W. J. & Zeikus, I. G. (1976). Requirement for growth substrate during lignin decomposition by two white rotting fungi. Appl. & Environ. Microbiol. 32, 192–194.Google Scholar
Kiyohara, H. & Nagao, K. (1978). The catabolism of phenanthrene and naphthalene by bacteria. J. gen. Microbiol. 105, 69–75.Google Scholar
Leadbetter, E. R. & Foster, J. W. (1959). Oxidation products formed from gaseous alkanes by the bacterium Pseudomonas methanica. Archs Biochem. Biophys. 82, 491–492.Google Scholar
Little, M. & Williams, P. A. (1971). A bacterial halidohydrolase. Eur. J. Biochem. 21, 99–109.Google Scholar
Lominski, I., Conway, N. S., Harper, E. M. & Rennie, J. B. (1967). Utilization of citric acid by some so-called citrate-non-utilizing bacteria. Nature, Loud 160, 573–74.Google Scholar
Sayler, G. S., Shon, M. & Colwell, R. R. (1977). Growth of an esturine Pseudomonas sp. on polychlorinated biphenyl. Microb. Ecol. 3, 241–255.Google Scholar
Schultz, E., Engle, F. E. & Wood, J. M. (1974). New oxygenases in the degradation of fiavones and flavanones by P. putida. Biochemistry, N. Y. 13, 1768–1776.Google Scholar
Siuda, J. F. & DeBernardis, J. F. (1973). Naturally occurring halogenated organic compounds. Lloydia 36, 107–143.Google Scholar
Subba-Rao, R. V. & Alexander, M. (1977). Products formed from analogues of DDT metabolites by Pseudomonas putida. Appl. & Environ. Microbiol. 33, 101–108Google Scholar
Vaughn, R. H., Osborne, J. T., Wedding, G. T., Tabachnick, J., Biesel, C. G. & Braxton, T. (1950). The utilization of citrate by Escherichia coli. J. Bact. 60, 119–127.Google Scholar
Wood, J. M., Kennedy, F. S. & Rosen, C. G. (1968). Synthesis of methyl-mercury compounds by extracts of a methanogenic bacterium. Nature, Lond. 220, 173–174.Google Scholar