title: Biodegradation of allethrin, a pyrethroid insecticide, by an acidomonas sp.
abstract: Allethrin is a major mosquito repellent agent. To degrade allethrin present in used mats and the environment, a bacterium capable of utilizing allethrin was isolated. This isolate, an Acidomonas sp., grew in minimal medium with 16 mM: allethrin as sole source of carbon and degraded >70% of it in 72 h, with negligible residual metabolites in the medium. Culture filtrates collected after 48 h and 72 h showed presence of (i) cyclopropanecarboxylic acid, 2,2-dimethyl-3-(2-methyl-1-propenyl), (ii) 2-ethyl-1,3-dimethyl-cyclopent-2-ene-carboxylic acid (iii) chrysanthemic acid and (iv) allethrolone [2-cyclopenten-l-one, 4-hydroxy-3-methyl-2(-2-propenyl)] as the major metabolites with 2 minor metabolites. Allethrin is thus metabolized by a hydrolytic pathway followed by oxidation and dehydrogenation.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biology Research Laboratory, Department of Zoology, University of Pune, 411007 Pune, India.
authors.forename: Mandar
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Paingankar
authors.forename: Manish
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jain
authors.forename: Dileep
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Deobagkar
mesh_terms: D016947:Acetobacteraceae / Q000166:cytology / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D000487:Allethrins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D002455:Cell Division; D003517:Cyclopentanes / Q000378:metabolism; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D007306:Insecticides / Q000378:metabolism*; D015394:Molecular Structure; D011722:Pyrethrins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000487:Allethrins; D003517:Cyclopentanes; D007306:Insecticides; D011722:Pyrethrins; C506804:allethrolone; C007051:chrysanthemic acid