| Appl Environ Microbiol. 1985 August; 50(2): 292–297. | PMCID: PMC238618 |
Methane Fermentation of Ferulate and Benzoate: Anaerobic Degradation Pathways D. Grbić-Galić 1* and L. Y. Young 22Department of Civil Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, 1 and Department of Environmental Medicine and Department of Microbiology, New York University Medical Center, New York, New York 100162 Abstract The anaerobic biodegradation of ferulate and benzoate in stabilized methanogenic consortia was examined in detail. Up to 99% of the ferulate and 98% of the benzoate were converted to carbon dioxide and methane. Methanogenesis was inhibited with 2-bromoethanesulfonic acid, which reduced the gas production and enhanced the buildup of intermediates. Use of high-performance liquid chromatography and two gas chromatographic procedures yielded identification of the following compounds: caffeate, p-hydroxycinnamate, cinnamate, phenylpropionate, phenylacetate, benzoate, and toluene during ferulate degradation; and benzene, cyclohexane, methylcyclohexane, cyclohexanecarboxylate, cyclohexanone, 1-methylcyclohexanone, pimelate, adipate, succinate, lactate, heptanoate, caproate, isocaproate, valerate, butyrate, isobutyrate, propionate, and acetate during the degradation of either benzoate or ferulate. Based on the identification of the above compounds, more complete reductive pathways for ferulate and benzoate are proposed. Full text Full text is available as a scanned copy of the original print version. Get a printable copy (PDF file) of the complete article (973K), or click on a page image below to browse page by page. Links to PubMed are also available for Selected References. These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article. - Balba, MT; Evans, WC. The methanogenic fermentation of aromatic substrates. Biochem Soc Trans. 1977;5(1):302–304. [PubMed]
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