Conjugal transfer of a TOL-like plasmid and extension of the catabolic potential of Pseudomonas putida F1

Strain mX was isolated from a petrol-contaminated soil, after enrichment on minimal medium with 0.5% (v/v) meta-xylene as a sole carbon source. The strain was tentatively characterized as Pseudomonas putida and harboured a large plasmid (pMX) containing xyl genes involved in toluene or meta-xylene degradation pathways via an alkyl monooxygenase and a catechol 2,3-dioxygenase. This new TOL-like plasmid was stable over two hundred generations and was self-transferable. After conjugal transfer to P. putida F1, which possesses the Tod chromosomal toluene biodegradative pathway, the transconjugant P. putida F1(pMX) was able to grow on benzene, toluene, meta-xylene, para-xylene, and ethylbenzene compounds as the sole carbon sources. Catechol 2,3-dioxygenases of the transconjugant cells presented a more relaxed substrate specificity than those of parental cells (strain mX and P. putida F1).