Nocardia rhodochrous

Biological. Degradation by the microorganism Nocardia rhodochrous yielded ammonium ion and propionic acid, the latter being oxidized to carbon dioxide and water (DiGeronimo and Antoine, 1976). When 5 and 10 mg/L of acrylonitrile were statically incubated in the dark at 25 °C with yeast extract and settled domestic wastewater inoculum, complete degradation was observed after 7 d (Tabak et al., 1981). Heukelekian and Rand (1955) reported a 5-d BOD value of 1.09 g/g which is 60.0% of the ThOD value of 1.81 g/g. 

Fusarium solani [114], Arthrobacter sp. [115], Escherichia coli, transformed with a KLehsiella ozaenae plasmid DNA [116], Rhodococcus rhodochrous J1 [117,118], and Alcaligenes faecalis JM3 [119, 120]. The enzyme of Rhodococcus rhodochrous J1 was employed for the production of p-aminobenzoic acid from p-aminobenzonitrile [121], and nicotinic acid from 3-cyanopyridine [122]. The conversion of 3 anopyridine to nicotinic add, by a nitrilase of Nocardia rhodochrous IjL100-2, was also reported by Vaughan et al. [123]. These nitrilases were usually inactive on aliphatic nitriles. More recently, a new nitrilase, that acts preferentially on aliphatic nitriles, was purified and characterized in Rhodococcus rhodochrous K22 [124]. 

MacMichael GJ, LR Brown (1987) Role of carbon dioxide in catabolism of propane by Nocardia parafflni-cum (Rhodococcus rhodochrous). Appl Environ Microbiol 53 65-69. 

In the hydroxylation of n-propane to n-propanol by Nocardia paraffinicum (Rhodococcus rhodochrous) ATCC 21198, the ratio of hydrocarbon to oxygen consumed was 2 1 and this suggests that the reaction of two molecules of propane and one molecule of dioxygen... 

Harper DB (1977) Microbial metabolism of aromatic nitriles. Enzymology of C-N cleavage by Nocardia sp. (Rhodochrous group) NCIB 11216. Biochem J 165 309-319. 

The taxonomy of aerobic dibenzothiophene (DBT)-degrading microorganisms acting as biocatalysts, include the Nocardiaceae [27,126,197,277,291,292], inclusive of genera Rhodococcus and Nocardia, Mycobacteriaceae [30,31], and Bacillaceae [87,293], At first, R. rhodochrous ATCC 53968 was the main biocatalyst, but several other... 

Rhodococcus rhodochrous was used for the hydrolysis of both granular PAN and acrylic fibers by nitrile hydratase and amidase (Tauber et al., 2000). Similarly, Agrobacterium tumefaciens (BST05) was found to convert polyacylonitrile into polyacrylic acid by nitrile hydratase and amidase (Fischer-Colbrie et al., 2006). Nitrilase was also used for the surface hydrolysis of PAN from Micrococcus luteus BST20 (Fischer-Colbrie et al., 2007). However, polyamidase from Nocardia farci-nica leads to an increase of polar groups on the surface of PA, which was measured by tensiometry (Heumann et al., 2009). 

An analogous biotransformation of 3-cyanopyridine catalyzed by a nitrilase has been proposed for the production of nicotinic acid. Nitrilases from R. rhodochrous J1 (Mathew et al, 1988) and Nocardia globerula NHB-2 (Sharma et al., 2006) resting cells have been found to be highly efficient in the production of nicotinic acid (Figure 17.20). 

Harper, D.B. 1985. Characterization of a nitrilase from Nocardia sp. (Rhodochrous group) NCIB 11215, using /7-hydroxybenzonitrile as sole carbon source. International Journal of Biochemistry, 17 677-83. 

This is not the case for a Rhodococcus rhodochrous strain that affords 1,2-epoxyalkanes from short-chain terminal olefins. Indeed, in the latter case, no product inhibition has been observed [106]. However, the ee s obtained were not determined, and it seems probable that they were quite low. On the other hand, a Nocardia corallina strain was described that afforded the corresponding 1,2-(i )-epoxy-2-methylalkane with ee s as high as 90% depending on the chain length [ 107]. These epoxides were used as chiral building blocks to prepare prostaglandin co-chains. 

Cells of Rhodococcus rhodochrous also hydrated oleie aeid to 10-HSA and 10-KSAat 55 and 12% yields, respeetively (13). Hydration of oleic acid to 10-HSA was also demonstrated in resting cell suspensions of seven Nocardia species xmder anaerobic conditions (14). Nocardia cholesterolicum NRRL 5769 gave a yield >90% with optimum conditions at pH 6.5 and 40°C. A minor amount of 10-KSA was detected. The reaction proceeds via hydration of the double bond as shown by labeling experiments with deuterium oxide and 0-labeled water. The system was specific for fatty acids with cis unsaturation at the 9 position. Anaerobiosis favors bioconversion to 10-HSA (15) and higher pH favors bioeonversion to 10-KSA (14). 

Alkene monooxygenase (AMO) from Rhodococcus rhodochrous B-276 (also known as Nocardia corallina) is a multicomponent oxygenase that catalyzes the stereoselective insertion of an oxygen atom from O2 into aliphatic alkenes, yielding the corresponding chiral epoxides (Table 1) [151], This reaction is the first step in the pathway of the alkene metabolism. AMO utilizes substrates ranging from C3-... 

Although E/CO initially photodegraded to fragments more rapidly than S-G and E-St, photo-degradation of the transition metal ion catalysed systems continued to a much lower molar mass. After fragmentation, the peroxidised polymers were incubated in the absence of any other source of carbon with three microorganisms isolated from soil in the vicinity of discarded polyethylene. Two were bacteria (Nocardia asteroides and Rhodococcus rhodochrous) and one was a fungus Cladosporium cladosporioides). It recently has been shown by Delort and co-workers that biofilm formation is very rapid on the surface of peroxidised polyethylene (Fig. 1). 

Nocardia asteroides was particularly effective in bioassimilating all thermally oxidised polymers, whereas Rhodococcus rhodochrous bioassimilated photooxidised S-G but had little effect on photooxidised E-CO. The fungus, Cladosporium was least effective in reducing the mass of... 

In addition to the commercial production of >30,000 MT per year of acrylamide using R. rhodochrous Jl, >15,000 MT acrylamide per year are currendy produced in the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) using a Nocardia sp. microbial nitrile hydratase In an initial study of the suitability of Nocardia sp. 9112-118 for commercial production of acrylamide, the cells were immobilized in alginate... 

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