Catabolism of alkylphenols inRhodococcus via a meta-cleavage pathway 1 associated with genomic islands 2 3 Running title: Alkylphenol catabolism in Rhodococcus 4 5 Authors: Abstract 19The bacterial catabolism of aromatic compounds has considerable promise to convert lignin 20 depolymerization products to commercial chemicals. Alkylphenols are a key class of 21 depolymerization products whose catabolism is not well elucidated. We isolated Rhodococcus 22 Importance 40 Elucidation of bacterial alkylphenol catabolism is important for the development of 41 biotechnologies to upgrade the lignin component of plant biomass. We isolated a new strain, 42Rhodococcus rhodochrous EP4, on 4-ethylphenol, an alkylphenol that occurs in lignin-derived 43 streams, including reductive catalytic fractionation products of corn stover. We further 44 demonstrated its degradation via a meta-cleavage pathway (Aph) with transcriptomics. A new 45 class of Actinobacterial hydroxylase, AphAB, acts specifically on alkylphenols. Phylogenomic 46 analysis indicated that the aph genes occur on putative genomic islands in several rhodococcal 47 strains. These genes were identified in the genetically-tractable strain Rhodococcus jostii RHA1. 48 Strains missing this element cannot metabolise 4-ethylphenol and 4-propylphenol. Overall, we 49 advanced the understanding of how aromatic compounds are degraded by environmental bacteria 50 and identified enzymes that can be employed in the transition away from petro-chemicals 51 towards renewable alternatives. 52