Oxidation of alkanes to internal monoalkenes by a Nocardia.

A suspension of glucose-grown resting cells of Nocardia salmonicolor PSU-N-18 oxidized hexadecane to a mixture of internal monohexadecenes. The latter exhibited a cis configuration, and the mixture consisted of the following: 7-hexadecene, 80%; 8-hexadecene, 18%; and 6-hexadecene, 2%. Alkanes other than hexadecane also were unsaturated by the resting cells, and the composition of the monoalkenes resulting from octadecane dehydrogenation was 9-octadecene, 91%; 8-octadecene, 2 to 3%; 7-octadecene, 1 to 2%; and 6- and 5-octadecenes, trace amounts. Only minute quantities of unsaturated hydrocarbons accumulated during growth on hexadecane and during resting-cell incubation of hexadecane-grown cells with hexadecane. The dehydrogenation of hydrocarbons did not appear to be related to the formation of unsaturated fatty acids. It is postulated that double bond insertion may represent an early step in a new pathway of aliphatic hydrocarbon degradation.