Degradation of 1,1-diphenylethylene by mixed cultures

Abstract

A nonaxenic sewage culture metabolized 1,1-diphenylethylene by two different pathways involving hydration to form 2,2-diphenylethanol and oxidation and fission of one of the benzene rings to form atropic acid. Five different bacterial strains which grew on 1,1-diphenylethylene were isolated; all were gram-negative rods comprising the genera Pseudomonas, Acetomonas, and Acinetobacter. A fungal isolate, Cladosporium, which used diphenylethylene as a sole carbon source, was also obtained from the same enrichment procedure.