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Updated: Aug 9, 2026

Recombinant Protein Expression, Crystallization, and Biophysical Studies of a Bacillus-conserved Nucleotide Pyrophosphorylase, BcMazG
Published on: May 16, 2017
Novel pathway for degradation of protocatechuic acid in Bacillus species
Abstract:
A species of Bacillus, tentatively identified as B. circulans, degrades protocatechuic acid by a novel reaction involving meta-fission between C2 and C3 of the benzene nucleus. 2-Hydroxymuconic semialdehyde is then degraded to pyruvate and acetaldehyde by enzymatic reactions described in previous work. Protocatechuate 2,3-oxygenase exhibits a rather narrow substrate specificity; the methyl and ethyl esters of protocatechuic acid are oxidized, but other substrates for ring-fission oxygenases, notably catechol, gallic acid, and homoprotocatechuic acid, are not attached.
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