Oxidation of aliphatic, branched chain, and aromatic hydrocarbons by Nocardia cyriacigeorgica isolated from oil-polluted sand samples collected in the Saudi Arabian Desert.

A soil bacterium isolated from oil-polluted sand samples collected in the Saudi Arabian Desert has been determined as Nocardia cyriacigeorgica, which has a high capacity of degrading and utilizing a broad range of hydrocarbons. The metabolic pathways of three classes of hydrocarbons were elucidated by identifying metabolites in cell-free extracts analyzed by GC/MS and HPLC/UV-Vis in comparison with standard compounds. During tetradecane oxidation, tetradecanol; tetradecanoic acid; dodecanoic acid; decanoic acid could be found as metabolites, indicating a monoterminal degradation pathway of n -alkanes.

Formation of coumarines during the degradation of alkyl substituted aromatic oil components by the yeast Trichosporon asahii.

In this study, we investigated the ability of the yeast Trichosporon asahii SBUG-Y 833 to assimilate phenylalkanes with alkyl chain lengths from 7 to 12 carbon atoms, and we describe for the first time the formation of coumarines via a novel degradation pathway other than the normal terminal and ss-oxidation pathway of the alkyl residues. Besides benzoic acid and its further oxidation products, six new metabolites were identified. These were the three coumarines--4-hydroxycoumarin, 4,6-dihydroxycoumarin, 4,8-dihydroxycoumarin-and the three alkyl substituted aromatic acids--7-phenylheptanoic acid, 2-hydroxyphenylheptanoic acid, and 2-hydroxyphenylpropanoic acid.