Characterization of the Cα-Dehydrogenase Gene Involved in the Cleavage of β-Aryl Ether by Pseudomonas paucimobilis

Cα-dehydrogenase catalyzes the oxidation of arylglycerol-β-aryl ether at the Ca-position, and therefore this process produces the specific substrate for β- etherase, which cleaves β-ary ethers (Ca carbonyl type).Here we isolated the Ca-dehydrogenase gene (ligD) and sequenced its nucleotides. This gene contains an open reading frame of 915 bp and the deduced amino acid sequence had a homology with the ribitol dehydrogenase family. ligD is about 1 kbp upstream of the β-etherase gene (ligE).