Engineering of heterologous cytochrome P450 in Acinetobacter sp.: Application for pollutant degradation

Many organisms do not contain the necessary biochemical armoury to carry ou t the initial oxidative attack of many pollutant chemicals. In the present study, Acinetobacter sp. strain BD413 has been genetically engineered to ex press the cytochrome P450 xenobiotic-metabolising enzyme CYP105D1 from Stre ptomyces griseus that has in its repertoire a diverse array of organic poll utants. Further, it is shown that the transformed Acinetobacter calcoacetic us strain BD413 can grow on pollutants unlike control bacteria not expressi ng cytochrome P450 and that was reflected in release of radiolabel with gro wth on radiolabelled chlortoluron. We show that cytochrome P450 can enhance the biodegrading repertoire of A. calcoaceticus and discuss the applicatio n of such results to bioremediation strategies. (C) 2000 Academic Press.