Aromatic compound degradation: characterizing the benzoate oxidation (BOX) pathway in Burkholderia xenovorans LB400

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Aromatic compounds compose approximately 25% of the Earth's biomass and are the second most abundant class of natural products next to carbohydrates. Due to the inherent stability of the aromatic ring, natural attenuation of these compounds is very slow. Many bacteria, however, have evolved biodegradative capabilities that can make use of a wide variety of aromatic compounds as sources of energy. These capabilities have evolved due to widespread availability of many aromatic compounds in the environment in the form of recycled plant material. Man-made aromatic pollutants, however, pose major challenges for bacterial degradation. Not only are these compounds more chemically complex, but they have only been exposed to microbial degraders for a relatively short period of time. As a result, these xenobiotic compounds, many of which are derived from crude oil, persist in the environment and cause irreversible damage to the biosphere. The most effective strategy to stimulate the removal of these contaminants from the environment is to manipulate the metabolic pathways of bacteria to increase protein stability and broaden substrate specificity. As a prerequisite step to the rationale engineering of these biological systems, detailed descriptions of the enzymes involved are essential. To this end, the goal of this research program is to define the mechanism by which aromatic compounds are degraded via the novel benzoate oxidation (box) pathways in B. xenovorans LB400. The long-term goal of this research is to design more efficient strategies for the accelerated bioremediation of environmentally toxic aromatic based pollutants.