Degradation of high concentrations of cresols by Pseudomonas sp CP4

Pseudomonas sp. CP4, a potent phenol-degrading laboratory isolate could min eralize all three isomers of cresol. This strain readily utilized up to 1.4 , 1.1 and 2.2 g/l of o- m- and p-cresol, respectively as the sole sources o f carbon and energy. These are the highest concentrations of cresols report ed to be degraded by a bacterial strain. The rates of degradation of the th ree isomers were in the order: o- > p- > m-cresol. All the isomers of creso l were catabolized through a meta-cleavage pathway. Fairly high catechol 2, 3-dioxygenase (C230) activity against catechol was observed in the cell-fre e extracts of the culture grown on these compounds and were in the order: m - > o- > p-cresol.