The 2-methylpropene degradation pathway in Mycobacteriaceae family strains

Mycolicibacterium gadium IBE100 and Mycobacterium paragordonae IBE200 are aerobic, chemoorganoheterotrophic bacteria isolated from activated sludge from a wastewater treatment plant. They use 2-methylpropene (isobutene, 2-MP) as the sole source of carbon and energy. Here, we postulate a degradation pathway of 2-methylpropene derived from whole genome sequencing, differential expression analysis and peptide-mass fingerprinting. Key genes identified are coding for a 4-component soluble diiron monooxygenase with epoxidase activity, an epoxide hydrolase, and a 2-hydroxyisobutyryl-CoA mutase. In both strains, involved genes are arranged in clusters of 61.0 and 58.5 kbp, respectively, which also contain the genes coding for parts of the aerobic pathway of adenosylcobalamin synthesis. This vitamin is essential for the carbon rearrangement reaction catalysed by the mutase. These findings provide data for the identification of potential 2-methylpropene degraders.