Bacterial Degradation of Diphenylmethane, a DDT Model Substrate

A strain of Hydrogenomonas was isolated by elective culture in a solution with diphenylmethane, an analogue of DDT, as the sole carbon source. Constitutive enzymes effected the oxidation and fission of one of the benzene rings of diphenylmethane, and phenylacetic acid was found as a major degradation product. Small amounts of phenylglyoxylic and benzoic acids were also generated from diphenylmethane by the bacterium. Phenylacetic acid, which contains the second benzene ring of diphenylmethane, was metabolized by inducible enzymes.