title: Metabolism of 4-chloro-2-methylphenoxyacetic Acid by soil bacteria.
abstract: A microorganism capable of degrading 4-chloro-2-methylphenoxyacetic acid (MCPA) was isolated from soil and identified as Flavobacterium peregrinum. All of the chlorine of MCPA was released as chloride, and the carboxyl-carbon was converted to volatile products by growing cultures of the bacterium, but a phenol accumulated in the medium. The phenol was identified as 4-chloro-2-methylphenol on the basis of its gas chromatographic and infrared characteristics. Extracts of cells of F. peregrinum and of a phenoxyacetate-metabolizing Arthrobacter sp. dehalogenated MCPA and several catechols but not 4-chloro-2-methylanisole. The Arthrobacter sp. cell extract was fractionated, and an enzyme preparation was obtained which catalyzed the conversion of MCPA to 4-chloro-2-methylphenol. The latter compound was not metabolized unless reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate was added to the fractionated extract. The phenol in turn was apparently oxidized to a catechol by components of the enzyme preparation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Agronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14850.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Bollag
authors.forename: C S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Helling
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alexander