Formaldehyde degradation in Corynebacterium glutamicum involves acetaldehyde dehydrogenase and mycothiol-dependent formaldehyde dehydrogenase.

Corynebacterium glutamicum, a Gram-positive soil bacterium belonging to the actinomycetes, is able to degrade formaldehyde but the enzyme(s) involved in this detoxification process were not known. Acetaldehyde dehydrogenase Ald, which is essential for ethanol utilization, and FadH, characterized here as NAD-linked mycothiol-dependent formaldehyde dehydrogenase, were shown to be responsible for formaldehyde oxidation since a mutant lacking ald and fadH could not oxidize formaldehyde resulting in the inability to grow when formaldehyde was added to the medium. Moreover, C.