Metabolism of cyclohexane carboxylic acid by the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris

Cyclohexane carboxylate supported relatively rapid growth (doubling times 7-8 h) of Rhodopseudomonas palustris under oxic or photosynthetic conditions, but did not serve as a substrate for either of the known aromatic CoA ligases. A CoA ligase that thioesterifies cyclohexane carboxylate was partially purified and did not cross react immunologically with the two CoA ligases purified previously from this bacterium. Crude extracts of R. palustris cells grown with a range of aromatic or alicyclic acids contained a dehydrogenase that reacted with cyclohexane carboxyl-CoA or cyclohex-1-ene carboxyl-CoA, using 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol or ferricenium ion as electron carrier. This activity was not detected in extracts of adipate-, glutamate-, or succinate-grown cells. No oxidation or reduction of nonesterified cyclohexane carboxylate or cyclohexene carbocylate was detected in extracts of cells grown with aromatic or aliphatic substrates, neither aerobically nor anaerobically. A constitutively expressed thioesterase that hydrolyzed cyclohexane carboxyl-CoA and also some alicyclic and aliphatic CoA derivatives was purified and characterized. The enzyme had little or no activity on benzoyl-CoA or 4-hydroxybenzoyl-CoA. The presence of a thioesterase that effectively hydrolyzes cyclohexane carboxyl-CoA suggests that transient production of cyclohexane carboxylate is a physiological response to temporary excess of reductant during metabolism of aromatic compounds.