[Oxidation of dibenzofuran by Pseudomonas strains harboring plasmids of naphthalene degradation]

Pseudomonas strains harboring plasmids pBS3, pBS4, NAH7 were shown to carry out initial transformation of dibenzofurane to 4-[2'-(3'-hydroxy)-benzofuranyl]-2-keto-3-butenic acid due to broad substrate specificity of the enzymes of naphthalene catabolism nahA, nahB, nahC and nahD. These strains did not grow on dibenzofurane because of the inability of the enzyme nahE to split pyruvate of 4-[2'-(3' hydroxy)-benzofuranyl]-2-keto-3-butenic acid, which leads to accumulation of the latter. The strains harboring plasmids pBS2 and NPL-1 are not capable of any transformation of dibenzofurane.