TABLE 1.

Summary of probes designed

Chemical class	Biodegradation type	Target chemicala	No. of genes	Total no. of probes synthesized	Representative genes for overall diversity evaluation	No. of genes for similarity calculation	Avg (range) of similarity (%)
Organic	Aerobic degradation	Monoaromatic compoundsb	697	542	Phenol hydroxylase	58	70 (30-85)
		Polyaromatic compoundsb	285	212	Naphthalene dioxygenase	17	51 (31-94)
		Biphenylb	125	76	Biphenyl dioxygenase	49	34 (21-93)
		Catechol and its derivatives	669	417	Catechol dioxygenase	71	45 (25-94)
		Aliphatic compounds	218	131	Alkane monoxygenase	18	34 (21-83)
	Anaerobic degradation	Monoaromatic compounds	120	99	NAc
Metal		Heavy metal reduction	153	120	Arsenate reductase	32	31 (18-86)
		Heavy metal export	135	73	Cadmium-transporting ATPase	18	32 (22-74)
Total			2,402	1,662	NA

^aMonoaromatic compounds: benzene, toluene, xylene, phenol, halophenol, phthalate, cymene, halobenzoate, 2,4-D,2,4,5-T, hydroxyphenolpropionate, cyclohexanol, hydroxybenzoate, nitrotoluene, hydroxyacetophenone, cyclohexane, alkylbenzene, aniline, anthranilate, styrene, gentisate, salicylate, and nitrobenzene. Polyaromatic compounds: naphthalene, phenanthrene, pyrene, dibenzothiophene, and dioxin carbazole. Biphenyl: polychlorinated biphenyl, biphenyl, aminobiphenyl, and trihydroxybiphenyl. Aliphatic compounds: alkane, haloalkane, alkene, haloethylene, methane acetone, nitrile, chloroacrylic acid, hanomethane, haloacid, and parathion.

^bGenes involved only in the transformation of aromatic compounds to catechol and its derivatives.

^cNA, not available.