Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
1
pubmed:dateCreated
2003-10-10
pubmed:abstractText
Synthetic compounds, particularly highly chlorinated aromatics, comprise the bulk of the environmental pollutants that somehow must be removed from the environment. Microbial degradation of such compounds is usually very slow, making them highly persistent in nature. Some synthetic compounds, with a lower degree of chlorination are, however, biodegradable; biochemical, genetic, and molecular studies demonstrate the evolution of new plasmid-encoded enzymatic activities specifically designed for the chlorinated substrates. Nucleotide sequences of many of the genes encoding such enzymatic activities demonstrate considerable homology either near the active sites or throughout the molecules with the chromosomal genes encoding enzymes catalyzing analogous reactions. In some cases, unique repeated sequences, reminiscent of prokaryotic insertion sequence elements, are present at or near the newly evolved genes. This suggests gene duplication and divergence as well as recombinational events mediated by transposable type elements as key ingredients in the evolution of new degradative functions. An understanding of such evolutionary processes is an essential feature for the development of genetically-improved bacteria capable of utilizing and thereby removing highly chlorinated environmental pollutants from our environment.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:status
PubMed-not-MEDLINE
pubmed:issn
0734-9750
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
5
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
85-99
pubmed:dateRevised
2006-7-7
pubmed:year
1987
pubmed:articleTitle
Microbial degradation of synthetic recalcitrant compounds.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois 60612, USA.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article