Microbial Hydrocarbon Co-oxidation. III. Isolation and Characterization of an alpha, alpha'-Dimethyl-cis, cis-Muconic Acid-producing Strain of Nocardia corallina

A soil isolate identified as a strain of Nocardia corallina accumulated α, α′-dimethyl-cis, cis-muconic acid under co-oxidation conditions employing n-hexadecane for growth and p-xylene as the co-oxidizable substrate. N. corallina V-49 was postulated to have two pathways for the oxidation of p-xylene. One pathway proceeds throughp-benzyl alcohol, p-tolualdehyde, and p-toluic acid to 2, 3-dihydroxy-p-toluic acid, and the other pathway results in ortho ring cleavage of 3, 6-dimethylpyrocatechol and hence accumulation of α,α′-dimethyl-cis, cis-muconic acid.