Efficiency of naphthalene and salicylate degradation by a recombinant Pseudomonas putida mutant strain defective in glucose metabolism.

Metabolically engineered microorganisms may have tremendous potential in removing toxic compounds from nature. In general, microorganisms prefer to utilize simpler carbon sources over toxic compounds when both are present in an environment and, therefore, the presence of simpler carbon sources may greatly reduce the efficiency of a microorganism towards toxic compounds. If a microorganism is prevented from utilizing simpler carbon sources, thereby making it totally dependent upon the toxic compounds, it should increase the specificity for and efficiency of degradation of the toxic compounds in the presence of other, simpler carbon sources. To test this hypothesis, the efficiency of naphthalene and salicylate degradation in the presence of glucose by a recombinant Pseudomonas putida strain mutated in glucose metabolism was determined and compared to the non-mutated strain. Results obtained indicate that the impairment of glucose metabolism leads to better degradation of naphthalene and salicylate in the presence of glucose.