3-nitroadipate, a metabolic intermediate for mineralization of 2,4-dinitrophenol by a new strain of a Rhodococcus species

The bacterial strain RB1 has been isolated by enrichment cultivation with 2 ,3-dinitrophenol as the sole nitrogen, carbon, and energy source and charac terized, on the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence comparison, as a Rhodococcu s species closely related to Rhodococcus opacus, Rhodococcus sp, strain RB1 degrades 2,4dinitrophenol, releasing the two nitro groups from the compoun d as nitrite, The release of nitro groups from 2,4-dinitrophenol occurs in two steps. First, the 2-nitro group is removed as nitrite, with the product ion of an aliphatic nitro compound identified by H-1 nuclear magnetic reson ance and mass spectrometry as 3-nitroadipate. Then, this metabolic derivati ve is further metabolized, releasing its nitro group as nitrite, Full nitri te assimilation upon reduction to ammonia requires that an additional carbo n source be supplied to the medium.