• Applied Biological Chemistry
• /
• v.39 no.6
• /
• pp.472-476
• /
• 1996

The major portions of two DNA fragments, one from degradative plasmid, pRA4000 from Pseudomonas putida NCIMB 9866, and the other from degradative plasmid, pRA500 from P. putida NCIMB 9869, which harbor the structural genes for the flavoprotein (pchF) and cytochrome (pchC) subunits of p-cresol methylhydroxylase (PCMH), have been sequenced. The DNA and deduced amino acid sequences for pchC and pchF have been published. In these fragments, a coding region (dhal) for an aldehyde dehydrogenase has been identified. It is proposed that this gene encodes for the aldehyde dehydrogenase which converts p-hydroxybenzyaldehyde to p-hydroxybenzoate. p-Hydroxybezealdehyde is the product of oxidation of p-cresol by PCMH. The fragment from P. putida 9869 also harbors the genes for the ${\alpha}$ (pcaG) and ${\beta}$ (pcaH) subunits of protocatechuate 3,4-dioxigenase. The fragment from 9866 does not have any portion of these genes in the corresponding region A possible open reading frame (ORF) between pchC and pchF is seen for both clones, and a second putative open reading frame (ORF') also exists in the 9866 clone. The gene organizations are dhal-pchC-ORF-pchF-pcaGH for the DNA fragment from 9869, and ORF-dhal-pchC-ORF-pchF for the DNA fragment from 9866.