Figure 3.

Native furfural degradation pathways. There are two major native metabolic routes for furfural. In some Pseudomonas putida strains, using oxygen as the final electron acceptor furfural goes through a series of oxidation and eventually goes into TCA cycle for further degradation. In contrast to aerobic degradation, the oxidoreductases with furfural reductase activity are recruited under anaerobic fermentation condition to reduce furfural to furfuryl alcohol, a less toxic product. Furfuryl alcohol is excreted into the medium.