Chapter 30 : Moving Ahead with Pseudomonad Genes

Abstract:

At the University of Illinois the author quickly moved to his work in Dr. Gunsalus' laboratory on the isolation and characterization of transducing phages for P. putida. Dr. Gunsalus-known as Gunny-was extremely interested in knowing how and why P. putida exhibited a broad degradative capability. During his postdoctoral years, the author and Dr. Gunsalus came up with some very exciting observations in rapid succession, which showed that in P. putida, the genes for the degradation of rather exotic organic compounds-such as camphor, octane, and naphthalene-occur on plasmids. The researchers had made a significant advance in their basic understanding about the genes involved in the biodegradation of exotic compounds, one that also would have significant practical implications. There are natural substrates in soil, such as lignocellulosic materials, that are often preferred by the organisms rather than the toxic chemicals, whose effective concentrations, such as that of 2,3,7,8-tetrachloro-dibenzo-p-dioxin, might be extremely low to be of meaningful nutritional value to the organisms. Such mechanisms, observed first in Pseudomonas, appear to be universal and may contribute to one's understanding of how other pathogens take over the host cell machinery.