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Mycobacterium sp. strain AP1 can metabolize pyrene via a newly described reaction that produces 6,6'-dihydroxy-2,2'-biphenyl dicarboxylic acid as an intermediate. Pyrene is the most common polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon in the environment, and this bacterium could be used to degrade it.

Washed-cell suspensions of Arthrobacter sp. strain F101 were analyzed to determine the enzymatic activities, metabolites and pathways that mediate fluorene metabolism. Analysis of Arthrobacter strain F101 with fluorene accumulated 9-fluorenone and formyl indanone indicate the occurrence of initial dioxygenation in the C-1, C-2 or at C-3 and C-4 positions. Furthermore, metabolic pathways are characterized by the combined metabolism of aromatic compounds and linear fatty acids such as beta oxidation.

The Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain PAO1(pRE695) naphthalene 1,2 dioxygenase acts on methyl-substituted aromatic acids to produce benzylic alcohols. The alcohols are methyl group monooxygenation products which are converted to their carboxylic acids by dehydrogenases in the host strain. The enzyme also acts as a sulfoxygenase and catalyzes the monooxygenation of the sulfur heteroatom of 3-methylbenzothiophene.

The bacterium Pseudomonas cepacia F297 may be able to break down fluorene and various other polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs), such as phenanthrene, anthracene, and naphthalene. The F297 strain grew in the presence of various PACs, using them as a source for carbon. After incubating the bacteria in a mixture of PACs and creosote for 14 days, the concentration of PACs dropped. The reactions the bacteria use to break down the PACs are discussed.

The mechanisms of dechlorination and hydroxylation reactions during methoxychlor degradation by Phanerochaete chrysosporium were analyzed to determine the characteristics of xenobiotic metabolism. The mineralization of [ring-14C]methoxychlor [1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(4-methoxyphenyl)ethane] by the white rot fungus led to the formation of metabolites such as the 1-dechloro derivative of 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(4-methoxyphenyl)ethane and 2-hydroxy derivative of 2,2,2-trichloro-1,1-bis(4-methoxyphenyl)ethanol. Furthermore, the mineralization of methoxychlor also involves the benzylic hydroxylation of the pesticide.

The pyrene-degrading Mycobacterium sp. strain AP1 was utilized to study the catabolic potential of mycobacteria in the removal of the most abundant hydrocarbon families and their derivatives from crude oil in a marine medium under laboratory conditions. The extensive degradation of the alkanes, the two-, three-, and four-ring PAHs, and their 1-, 2-, and 3-methyl derivatives from a complex mixture of hydrocarbons by Mycobacterium sp. strain AP1 demonstrated the great substrate versatility of alkane- and PAH-degrading mycobacteria.