Biodegradation of Picolinic Acid by a Newly Isolated Bacterium Alcaligenes faecalis Strain JQ135

We isolated a bacterial strain JQ135 from municipal wastewater, which was capable of efficiently degrading picolinic acid (PA). Based on the physico-biochemical characteristics and 16S rDNA analysis, strain JQ135 was identified as Alcaligenes faecalis. In addition, strain JQ135 produced an orange pigment when cultured in the Luria-Bertani medium, which is different from the previously reported strains of A. faecalis. During the degradation of PA by the resting strain JQ135 cells, only one intermediate, 6-hydroxypicolinic acid (6HPA), was detected by ultraviolet spectrophotometry, high-pressure liquid chromatography, and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. A random transposon mutagenesis library of strain JQ135 was constructed. One mutant, Mut-G31, could convert PA into 6HPA without further degradation. The disrupted gene (orf2) was amplified from Mut-G31, and its product showed 32% identity to the 3-deoxy-D-manno-octulosonic acid kinase (KdkA) from Haemophilus influenzae. Results from complementation analysis confirmed that GTG was the initiation codon of the kdkA-like orf2, and that it was essential for PA biodegradation by strain JQ135. This study provides the first genetic evidence for the bacterial degradation of PA.