Abstract
A possible aerobic degradative pathway for polyacrylate was examined with trimer (1,3,5-pentane tricarboxylic acid; PTCA)-utilizing bacteria. A few metabolic products from PTCA accumulated in culture filtrates and reaction mixtures of washed cells. Fraction A was detected as a main metabolite by high-performance liquid chromatography. A small amount of fraction B was concomitant with fraction A. Another fraction, C, was also detected. These compounds were suggested by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analyses to be 1,3,5-(1- or 2-pentene)tricarboxylic acid (fraction A or B) and 1,3,5-(2-oxopentane)tricarboxylic acid (fraction C). Fraction A was quickly further metabolized by washed cells, but fraction B was only gradually degraded. From these results, the metabolic pathway for polyacrylate is suggested to be quite similar toβ-oxidation for saturated fatty acids. The degradation of PTCA by washed cells was slower than that by growing cells and was inhibited by 5 mM NaN3. This suggests that the metabolism is linked to a respiratory chain or energy-producing system of bacteria which can aerobically assimilate PTCA.
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Kawai, F., Igarashi, K., Kasuya, F. et al. Proposed mechanism for bacterial metabolism of polyacrylate. J Environ Polym Degr 2, 59–65 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02074774
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02074774