Pseudomonas putida strain G7 cis-1,2-dihydro-1,2-dihydroxynaphthalene dehydrogenase (NahB) and Comamonas testosteroni strain B-356 cis-2,3-dihydro-2,3-dihydroxybiphenyl dehydrogenase (BphB) were found to be catalytically active towards cis-2,3-dihydro-2,3-dihydroxybiphenyl (specificity factors of 501 and 5850 s(-1) mM(-1) respectively), cis-1,2-dihydro-1,2-dihydroxynaphthalene (specificity factors of 204 and 193 s(-1) mM(-1) respectively) and 3,4-dihydro-3,4-dihydroxy-2,2',5,5'-tetrachlorobiphenyl (specificity factors of 1.6 and 4.9 s(-1) mM(-1) respectively). A key finding in this work is the capacity of strain B-356 BphB as well as Burkholderia cepacia strain LB400 BphB to catalyze dehydrogenation of 3,4-dihydro-3,4-dihydroxy-2,2',5,5'-tetrachlorobiphenyl which is the metabolite resulting from the catalytic meta-para hydroxylation of 2,2',5,5'-tetrachlorobiphenyl by LB400 biphenyl dioxygenase. (C) 1999 Academic Press.