Pathways of Lower Alkaline Oxidation 471 



TABLE 4 



oxidation. Concerning this last point, similar observations have 

 been made by Baptist and Coon (2) who have prepared from 

 a soil bacterium grown on n-octane cell free extracts oxidizing 

 this hydrocarbon to octanoic acid and containing a DPN de- 

 pendent n-octanol dehydrogenase. 



The product of heptane dehydrogenation has not yet been 

 identified by chemical analysis. However, one may assume that 

 it is most likely the corresponding olefin and consequently the 

 whole pathway of alkane oxidation by P. aeruginosa can be 

 tentatively represented as shown in Figure 4. 



DISCUSSION 



The existence of a /^-oxidation pathway had been previously 

 suggested by Treccani et al. (13) and by Thijsse and van der 



DPN p- -, [^loOj 



R.CH^.CHj ^-^[r.CH=ChJ ^ni-^i— R.CH„X:H„0H- 



2 2 



2h |_1.2ol»finJ a|cohol-1 



H,0 

 4^ R.CH.C^° T > R.CH .C<^° roM, ocid 



2H ^ 2H 



oldvhyd* 



OH 



Cj te^ rCoA-SH~| 



A' oxtdaMon 

 Fig. 4. Proposed scheme for n-alkane oxidation by Pseuclomonas aeruginosa. 



