E-Journal of Chemistry
Volume 7, S1, Pages S474-S480
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2010/364637
Biodegradation of Eugenol by Bacillus Cereus Strain PN24
Department of Chemistry Karnatak University’s Karnatak Science College, Dharwad-580 001, India
Received 22 January 2010; Revised 26 March 2010; Accepted 20 May 2010
Copyright © 2010 Hindawi Publishing Corporation. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Bacillus cereus PN24 was isolated from soil by a conventional enrichment culture method using eugenol as a sole source of carbon and energy. The organism also utilized eugenol, 4-vinyl guaiacol, vanillin, vanillic acid and protocatechuic acid as growth substrates. The organism degraded eugenol to protocatechuic acid, which was further metabolized by a β-ketoadipate pathway. On the other hand, the intermediate of the eugenol-degrading pathway, such as ferulic acid was not detected in the culture medium as an intermediate, as evidenced by isolation and identification of metabolites and enzyme activities in the cell-free extract. Such a bacterial strain could be used for phenolic environmental clean-up given optimal nutrient conditions.