[Bacteria that degrade low-molecular linear epsilon-caprolactam olygomers]

Five bacterial strains with the unique ability to utilize low-molecular linear caprolactam olygomers (nylon olygomers) were isolated from soil samples contaminated with industrial wastes of epsilon-caprolactam. Based on the properties studied and also on the analysis of 16S rRNA gene nucleotide sequences, the strains BS2,BS3, BS9, BS38, and BS57 were classified to the general Arthrobacter, Brevibacterium, Microbacteriun, Gulosibacter, and Achromobacter, respectively. All of the strains also utilized 6-aminohexanoic and adipic acids, which are intermidiates of the epsilon-caprolactam catabolism. This indirectly points to the fact that degradation of olygomers in these bacteria occurs via the monomer degradation pathway. The BS9 and BS57 strains utilized only olygomers of the epsilon-caprolactam, while BS2, BS3, and BS38 also degraded epsilon-caprolactam and its homologs, enantolactam and caprylolactam, which differentiates the latter from the previously known degraders of olygomers and suggests the presence in these strains of enzymes with lactam hydrolase activity, in addition to 6-aminohexanoate-dimer hydrolase.