Isolation and characterization of alkane-utilizing Nocardioides sp strain CF8

A butane-utilizing bacterial strain CF8 was isolated and identified as a member of the genus Nocardioides from chemotaxonomic and 16S rDNA sequence analysis. Strain CF8 grew on alkanes ranging from C-2 to C-16 in addition to butane and various other substrates including primary alcohols, carboxylic acids, and phenol. Butane degradation by strain CF8 was inactivated by light, a specific inactivator of copper-containing monooxygenases. The unique thermal aggregation phenomenon of acetylene-binding polypeptides was also observed for strain CF8. These results suggest that butane monooxygenase in strain CF8 is a third example of the copper-containing monooxygenases previously described in ammonia oxidizers and methanotrophs. (C) 2000 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.