Naphthalene genes

Herrick JB, KG Stuart-Keil, WC Ghiorse, EL Madsen (1997) Natural horizontal transfer of a naphthalene dioxygenase gene between bacteria native to a coal tar-contaminated field site. Appl Environ Microbiol 63 2330-2337. 

Stuart-Keil KG, AM Hohnstock, KP Drees, JB Herrick, EL Madsen (1998) Plasmids responsible for horizontal transfer of naphthalene catabolism genes between bacteria at a coal tar-contaminated site are homologous to pDTGl from Pseudomonas putida NCIB 9816-4. Appl Environ Microbiol 64 3633-3640. 

Fuenmayor SL, M Wild, A Boyes, PA Williams (1998) A gene cluster encoding steps in conversion of naphthalene to gentisate in Pseudomonas sp. strain U2. J Bacteriol 180 2522-2530. 

Kulakov LA, S Chen, CCR Allen, Ml Larkin (2005) Web-type evolution of Rhodococcus gene clusters associated with utilization of naphthalene. Appl Environ Microbiol 71 1754-1764. 

Pellizari VH, S Bezborodnikov, IF Quensen, JM Tiedje (1996) Evaluation of strains isolated by growth on naphthalene and biphenyl for hybridization of genes to dioxygenase probes and polychlorinated biphenyl-degrading ability. Appl Environ Microbiol 62 2053-2058. 

Simon Ml, TD Osslund, R Saunders, BD Ensley, S Suggs, A Harcourt, W-C Suen, DL Cruden, DT Gibson, GJ Zylstra (1993) Sequences of genes encoding naphthalene dioxygenase in Pseudomonas putida strains G7 and NCIB 9816-4. Gene 127 31-37. 

Ensley BD, BJ Ratzken, TD Osslund, Ml Simon, LP Wackett, DT Gibson (1983) Expression of naphthalene oxidation genes in Escherichia coli results in the biosynthesis of indigo. Science 222 167-169. 

Dionisi HM, CS Chewning, KH Morgan, E-M Menn, JP Easter, GS Sayler (2004) Abundance of dioxygenase genes similar to Ralstonia sp. strain U2 nagAc is correlated with naphthalene concentrations in coal tar-contaminated freshwater sediments. Appl Environ Microbiol 70 3988-3995. 

Carbazole, A-methylcarbazole, IV-ethylcarbazole, dibenzofuran, dibenzothiophene, fluorene, dibenzo-p-dioxin, phenoxathiin, phenoxazine, phenothiazine, xanthene, biphenyl, naphthalene, phenanthrene, anthracene, and fluoranthene could be transformed by E. coli, [314] which was transformed using a plasmid bearing the carAa, Ac, and Ad genes, and expressing only the carA-encoded proteins. Further work is needed to develop a final biocatalyst and to prove the advantages that this degradative pathway would incorporate in a refining bioprocess. 

Wilson and Madsen [152] used the metabolic pathway for bacterial naphthalene oxidation as a guide for selecting l,2-dihydroxy-l,2-dihydronaphthalene as a unique transient intermediary metabolite whose presence in samples from a contaminated field site would indicate active in situ naphthalene biodegradation (Fig. 26). Naphthalene is a component of a variety of pollutant mixtures. It is the major constituent of coal tar [345], the pure compound was commonly used as a moth repellant and insecticide [345], and it is a predominant constituent of the fraction of crude oil used to produce diesel and jet fuels [346]. Prior studies at a coal tar-contaminated field site have focused upon contaminant transport [10,347], the presence of naphthalene catabolic genes [348, 349], and non-metabolite-based in situ contaminant biodegradation [343]. 

The naphtho[2,3-d]-l,3-dioxole was oxidized using recombinant E. coli whole cells overexpressing the gene for the naphthalene dioxygenase from Pseudomonas putida G7. The linear carbohydrate fragment was enzymatically formed after ozon-ization of the diol, by chain extension with a dihydroxyacetone fragment in an... 

One of the most well known cases is that of indigo. The serendipitous discovery that cloning of the naphthalene dioxygenase genes in E, coli leads to the formation... 

Volicifin has also been shown to activate a specific maize sesquiterpene cyclase gene, stcl, which is also activated in response to caterpillar feeding or regurgitant treatment (Shen et al., 2000). The transcription of stcl results in the production of a naphthalene-based sesquiterpenoid, which we have not yet detected from the many maize lines we have studied (e.g., Gouinguene etal., 2001). It would be interesting to see if this volicitin-induced substance shows attractiveness to natural enemies of the caterpillars that induce its production. 

The naphthalene catabolic genes are located in most cases on plasmids. In this group the best-studied plasmid is NAH7 of P. putida PpG7. It carries two operons, one of which enables the utilization of naphthalene and the other salicylate. Both operons are turned on by the product of another NAH7 gene, nahR, in the presence... 

The coordinated induction of the two degradative operons is not a universal characteristic of the system. In Rbodococcus sp. strain B4, isolated from a soil sample contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, salicylate does not induce the genes of the naphthalene-degradative pathway (Grund et al., 1992). 

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