Biological oxidation of alkane to alkene under anaerobic conditions

Abstract

A petroleum assimilating facultative anaerobic bacterium (strain HD-1) was isolated from an oil field in Shizuoka. The cells were anaerobically grown on CO2 as the sole carbon source in the presence of H2, and the growth was markedly enhanced by the addition of aromatic or aliphatic hydrocarbon [Morikawa, M. and Imanaka, T.: J. Ferment. Bioeng., 76, 280–283, 1993]. The strain degraded tetradecane (C14) under anaerobic conditions and one of the major metabolic intermediates was identified as 1-dodecene (C12). This result demonstrates that alkanes are biodegradable in the absence of molecular oxygen via a pathway different from that of β-oxidation. The strain was found to grow on CO2 in the presence of tetradecane and absence of H2 gas and light. These findings strongly indicate that the bacterium is capable of anaerobically utilizing alkane as an energy source.