Degradation of fluorobiphenyl by Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes KF707

The biphenyl-degrading bacterium Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes KF707 can use 2- and 4-fluorobiphenyl as sole carbon and energy sources. Accumulation of fluorinated catabolites was determined by fluorine-19 nuclear magnetic spectroscopy (19F NMR) and revealed that growth on 4-fluorobiphenyl yielded 4-fluorobenzoate and 4-fluoro-1,2-dihydro-1,2-dihydroxybenzoate as major fluorometabolites; 2-fluorobenzoate and 2-fluoromuconic acid were observed in 2-fluorobiphenyl-grown cultures. Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes KF707 was not able to use either 2- or 4-fluorobenzoate as a growth substrate. Thus, fluorobiphenyl is probably degraded via the classical Bph pathway to fluorobenzoate, which is partially transformed via the enzymes of benzoate catabolism. This is the first report of investigations on the growth of bacteria on fluorinated biphenyls and demonstrates that as with chlorobiphenyl degradation, mineralization of the compounds depends upon the bacterium's ability to effectively catabolize the halobenzoate intermediate.