Degradation of o−xylene by Pseudomonas stutzeri OX1 (Pseudomonas sp. OX1)

Interest in the microbial degradation of methylbenzenes arose in the early 1970s, when both toxicological and ecological data started to alert people about their wide distribution in the environment and their effects on living organisms. Most of the early studies on bacterial methylbenzene catabolism focused on bacteria belonging to the genus Pseudomonas, which proved to be endowed with a formidable metabolic versatility. Several Pseudomonas strains isolated then for their ability to degrade toluene, mand p-xylene, and 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene, later become the archetypes for the studies on the biochemistry, genetics and regulation of methylbenzene degradation (see also volume 2, Chapter 18 and volume 4, Chapter 7).