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Environmental fate & pathways

Additional information on environmental fate and behaviour

Administrative data

Endpoint:
additional information on environmental fate and behaviour
Type of information:
migrated information: read-across based on grouping of substances (category approach)
Adequacy of study:
key study
Reliability:
4 (not assignable)
Rationale for reliability incl. deficiencies:
other: see 'Remark'
Remarks:
The Wentzel et al (2007) article is a review article and therefore cannot be given a reliability rating. The Wongsa et al. (2004) article is well documented and may be eligible for a reliability of 2, but for the purposes of this section has been given a reliability of 4.

Data source

Referenceopen allclose all

Reference Type:
publication
Title:
Bacterial metabolism of long-chain n-alkanes.
Author:
Wentzel, A., Ellingsen, T.E., Kotlar, H.-K., Zotchev, S.B., and Throne-Holt, M.
Year:
2007
Bibliographic source:
Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 76:1209-1221.
Reference Type:
publication
Title:
Isolation and characterization of novel strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Serratia marcescens possessing high efficiency to degrade gasoline, kerosene, diesel oil, and lubricating oil.
Author:
Wongsa, P., Tanaka, M., Ueno, A., Hasanuzzaman, M., Yumoto, I. and Okuyama, H.
Year:
2004
Bibliographic source:
Current Microbiology 49:415-422.

Materials and methods

Test guideline
Qualifier:
no guideline followed
Principles of method if other than guideline:
Studies determined the degradation of long chain n-alkanes by bacteria.
GLP compliance:
no

Test material

Constituent 1
Reference substance name:
long-chain n-alkanes
IUPAC Name:
long-chain n-alkanes

Results and discussion

Applicant's summary and conclusion

Conclusions:
Degradation of alkanes is a widespread phenomenon in nature, and numerous microorganisms capable of using these substrates as a carbon and energy source have been isolated and characterized. Such microorganisms are capable of degrading alkanes and converting them to easily metabolizable substrates. Wentzel et al. (2007) is a review paper that summarizes recent advances in the understanding of bacterial metabolism of long-chain n-alkanes. Wongsa et al. (2004) is one example of several technical papers that show degradation of long chain n-alkanes in complex mixtures like gasoline, kerosene, diesel oil and lubricating oil. In the most described cases, the n-alkane is oxidized to the corresponding primary alcohol by substrate-specific terminal monooxygenases/hydroxylases. Subterminal oxidation has also been described both for long-chain n-alkane substrates up to C16 and for n-alkanes of shorter chain lengths. After the initial oxidation of the n-alkane, the corresponding alcohol is subsequently oxidized further by alcohol dehydrogenase and aldehyde dehydrogenase to the corresponding aldehyde and carboxylic acids, respectively. The carboxylic acid then serves as a substrate for acyl-CoA synthetase, and the resulting acyl-COA enter the β-oxidation pathway. Rates of these reactions vary depending on the composition of the mixtures and other factors. Wongsa et al. (2004) found that about 90-95% of the total diesel oil and kerosene added to mineral salts media as a sole carbon source could be degraded by one strain of bacteria within 2 and 3 weeks, respectively. The same amount of lubricating oil was 60% degraded within 2 weeks. Another strain of bacteria was even more efficient in degrading aromatic compounds in gasoline. This second strain could also degrade kerosene, diesel and lubricating oil with a capacity of 50-60%.