Incorporation of Molecular Oxygen in Bacterial Cells Utilizing Hydrocarbons for Growth

THE methane-utilizing bacterium Pseudomonas methanica oxidizes ethane to ethanol, acetaldehyde and acetic acid; propane to n-propanol, propionic acid and acetone; and n- butane to n-butanol, n-butyric acid and 2-butanone1. The formation of homologous oxygenated products made possible a study of the mechanism of the bacterial oxidation. Ethylene could not be detected as an intermediate during the conversion of ethane, nor was ethylene converted to the same products as ethane. Mass spectrometric analysis of the acetic acid and the acetaldehyde produced from deuteroethane (ethane-D6) eliminated the possibility that ethane was dehydrogenated to ethylene at a stage in the oxidation1.