FIG. 12.

Peripheral pathway for anaerobic catabolism of phenol. (A) Enzymatic reactions of the pathway as determined previously for T. aromatica (322, 329). The enzymes are as follows: E1, phenylphosphate synthase; E2, phenylphosphate carboxylase. Brackets indicate an enzyme-bound phenolate intermediate. (B) Organization of the gene cluster involved in anaerobic catabolism of phenol in T. aromatica (GenBank accession number AJ272115), and that of the clusters likely to be involved in anaerobic phenol degradation in Azoarcus sp. strain EbN1 (accession number NC_006513) (288) and G. metallireducens (accession number NC_007517) (329). Genes are represented by arrows: red, genes encoding phenylphosphate synthase; green, genes encoding phenylphosphate carboxylase; black, genes encoding putative XylR/DmpR-like transcriptional regulators; white, genes likely to be involved in a different carboxylation reaction. Numbers underneath the genes in Azoarcus sp. strain EbN1 and G. metallireducens clusters correspond to the ortholog ORF in T. aromatica.