The ability of pure cultures of Rhodococcus actinobacteria from the Ural Specialized Collection of Alkanotrophic Microorganisms (World Federation for Culture Collections accession number 768; http://www.ecology.psu.ru/iegmcol) to convert β -sitosterol (BSS) and its 3 β -acylated derivatives was studied. Rhodococcus strains with pronounced cholesterol oxidase activity, capable of converting BSS to stigmat-4-ene-3-one in the reaction of cooxidation with n -hexadecane, were selected. The dependence of the activity of cholesterol oxidase of rhodococci on the length of the acyl group in BSS esters was studied. Conditions under which Rhodococcus cells convert BSS to 17 β -hydroxyandrost-4-ene-3-one (testosterone), commonly used in pharmacology, were determined.

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