A Description of Some Lignanolytic Soil Bacteria and their Ability to Oxidize Simple Phenolic Compounds

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Abstract
Bacteria able to decompose [alpha]-conidendrin were isolated from three of five soil samples by enrichment on this compound as sole source of carbon and energy. All the isolates obtained were small Gram-negative motile poorly flagellated rods, which were classified as members of the genus Agrobacterium. The ability of these bacteria to oxidize phenolic compounds was examined by manometric studies. From calculations of oxygen uptake, it was concluded that the oxidative rupture of the benzene ring of m- and p-hydroxybenzoic-acid by these bacteria could not be explained entirely by the known metabolic paths which lead from these hydroxybenzoic-acids to protocatechuic-acid or gentisic-acid. It was indicated by simultaneous adaptation technic that neither monohydroxybenzoic-acids nor monohydroxycinnamic-acids were likely to be formed during the oxidative breakdown of [alpha]-conidendrin by these agrobacteria.