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The first report of this phenomenon was the degradation of ethane by the species Pseudomonas methanica. These bacteria degrade their growth-substrate methane with the enzyme methane monooxygenase (MMO). MMO was discovered to be capable of degrading ethane and propane, although the bacteria were unable to use these compounds as energy and carbon sources to grow.
Another example is Mycobacterium vaccae, which uses an alkane monooxygenase enzyme to oxidize propane. Accidentally, this enzyme also oxidizes, at no additional cost for M. vaccae, cyclohexane into cyclohexanol. Thus, cyclohexane is co-metabolized in the presence of propane. This allows for the commensal growth of Pseudomonas on cyclohexane. The latter can metabolize cyclohexanol, but not cyclohexane.
Cometabolism can be used for the biodegradation of methyl-tert-butyl ether (MTBE): an aquatic environment pollutant. Some Pseudomonas members were found to be able to fully degrade MTBE cometabolically with the enzymes they produce to Redox Alkane (e.g. methane, propane).
Additionally, a promising method of bioremediation of chlorinated solvents involves cometabolism of the contaminants by aerobic microorganisms in groundwater and soils. Several aerobic microorganisms have been demonstrated to be capable of doing this, including Alkane, aromatic compound (e.g. toluene, phenol) and ammonium oxidizers. One example is Pseudomonas stutzeri OX1, which can degrade a hazardous, and water-soluble compound tetrachloroethylene (PCE). PCE, one of the major underground water contaminants, was regarded as being undegradable under aerobic conditions and only degraded via reductive dehalogenation to be used as a growth-substrate by organisms. Reductive dehalogenation often results in the partial dechlorination of the PCE, giving rise to toxic compounds such as TCE, Dichloroethene, and vinyl chloride. Pseudomonas st. OX1 can degrade PCE under aerobic conditions by using toluene-o-xylene monooxygenase (ToMO), an enzyme they produce to derive energy and carbon from toluene and several other aromatic compounds. This biological process could be utilized to remove PCE from aerobic polluted sites.
However, the difficulties and high costs of maintaining the growth-substrates of the organisms capable of cometabolising these hazardous compounds and providing them an aerobic environment have led to the limited field-scale application of cometabolism for pollutant solvent degradation. Recently, this method of remediation has been proposed to be improved by the substitution of the synthetic aromatic growth-substrates (e.g. toluene) of these bacteria with cheap, non-toxic plant secondary metabolites.
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