Camphor Degradation by Strains of Pseudomonas and Mycobacterium Isolated from Soil

Abstract

Three different isolates of Pseudomonas and two of Mycobacterium capable of the utilization of camphor as sole carbon source were isolated from soil. Evidence was obtained indicating that the strains of Pseudomonas and one of the strains of Mycobacterium metabolize camphor via pathways already described for Ps. putida. The other strain of Mycobacterium appeared to use a different pathway involving the 6-exo-hydroxylation of camphor. The disappearance of camphor and the time course of accumulation of intermediates in its degradation is described for one strain of Pseudomonas. IntroductionThe pathway of camphor degradation shown in Scheme 1 (Conrad 1965b) has been established for Pseudomonas putida strain ppG 1 and Pseudomonas strain C5 (Bradshaw et al. 1959;Conrad et al. 1961Conrad et al. , 1965a Hedegaard and Gunsalus 1965) and Ps. testosteroni (Jacobsen et al. 1964). A second different pathway, involving the 6-exo-hydroxylation of camphor followed by conversion of the hydroxyl group to a keto group and ring cleavage, has been described for an orange-pigmented diphtheroid strain Tl (Kay et al. 1962;Chapman et al. 1963Chapman et al. , 1966Kuo 1965).The studies described in this report were aimed at examining the types of bacteria capable of using camphor as a carbon source that could be isolated from soil, and the way in which these isolates degraded camphor.