Microbial hydrolysis of methyl aromatic esters by Burkholderia cepacia isolated from soil

Abstract

A bacterial strain that could utilise methyl benzoate as the sole source of carbon and energy was isolated from soil. This strain was identified as a Burkholderia cepacia. In minimum mineral medium, the strain hydrolysed the methyl ester to form benzoic acid, which is then also degraded. This strain was also able to hydrolyse the ester bond of substituted chlorobenzoic esters and methyl thiophene-2-carboxylate, but did not metabolise their reaction products. A crude enzymatic extract obtained from this strain was relatively stable, and hydrolysed more compounds than the microorganism itself: for instance, methyl 3-(N,N-diethylsulfamoyl)thiophene-2-carboxylate was hydrolysed by the enzyme but not by the microorganism. The bacterial strain was unable to hydrolyse the ester bond of two sulfonylurea herbicides, thifensulfuron methyl and metsulfuron methyl, in solution or after reintroduction in sterile soil. ß

A Novel Alkaline Esterase fromSporosarcinasp. nov. Strain eSP04 Catalyzing the Hydrolysis of a Wide Variety of Aryl-carboxylic Acid Esters

“…The substrate specificities of a large number of carboxylesterases have been documented. 3,5) Reports on aryl-carboxylesterases showing activities for the esters of aryl-carboxylic acids containing an aromatic ring next to the ester carboxyl group, such as ethyl benzoate (EBz), are very limited [7][8][9][10][11] compared with those on ordinary aliphatic carboxylesterases. The enzymes hydrolyzing phthalic acid esters, which are potential environmental pollutants, may be one exceptional aryl-carboxylesterase studied in many research groups.…”

“…The enzymes hydrolyzing phthalic acid esters, which are potential environmental pollutants, may be one exceptional aryl-carboxylesterase studied in many research groups. [12][13][14][15][16] In addition, the aryl-carboxylesterases thus far reported appeared to have rather narrow substrate specificity, or the substrates studied with the enzymes are limited in structure, [7][8][9][10][11] when one considers the occurrence of a large number of structurally analogous arylcarboxylic acid esters. Enzymes hydrolyzing 4-hydroxybenzoic acid esters are considered to belong to a different esterase family from benzoyl esterases.…”