title: O-Methylation of Chlorinated para-Hydroquinones by Rhodococcus chlorophenolicus.
abstract: Rhodococcus chlorophenolicus PCP-I, a degrader of polychlorinated phenols, guaiacols (2-methoxyphenols), and syringols (2,6-dimethoxyphenols), was shown to O-methylate the degradation intermediate, a chlorinated para-hydroquinone, into 4-methoxyphenol. O-methylation was constitutively expressed, whereas the degradation of chlorophenols and chlorohydroquinones was inducible in R. chlorophenolicus. The O-methylating reaction required two hydroxyl groups in positions para to each other. R. chlorophenolicus selectively methylated the hydroxyl group flanked by two chlorine substituents. Tetrachlorohydroquinone, trichlorohydroquinone, and 2,6-dichlorohydroquinone were methylated into tetrachloro-4-methoxyphenol, 2,3,5-trichloro-4-methoxyphenol, and 3,5-dichloro-4-methoxyphenol, respectively. Chlorohydroquinones with only one chlorine adjacent to a hydroxyl group were methylated only in trace amounts, and no metabolite was formed from hydroquinone. The degradation intermediates formed in hydroxylation of tetrachloroguaiacol and trichlorosyringol by R. chlorophenolicus were O-methylated into two isomeric trichlorodimethoxyphenols and two isomeric dichlorotrimethoxyphenols, respectively. R. chlorophenolicus also degraded the polychlorinated methylation products (tetrachlorinated and trichlorinated 4-methoxyphenols), but not mono- and dichlorinated 4-methoxyphenols.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Microbiology, University of Helsinki, Mannerheimintie 172, SF-00280 Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Häggblom
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Apajalahti
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Salkinoja-Salonen