Degradation of high concentrations of cresols by Pseudomonas sp. CP4.

Pseudomonas sp. CP4, a potent phenol-degrading laboratory isolate could mineralize all three isomers of
cresol. This strain readily utilized up to 1.4, 1.1 and 2.2 g/l of o- m- and p-cresol, respectively as the sole
sources of carbon and energy. These are the highest concentrations of cresols reported to be degraded by a
bacterial strain. The rates of degradation of the three isomers were in the order: o- > p- > m-cresol. All
the isomers of cresol were catabolized through a meta-cleavage pathway. Fairly high catechol 2,3-dioxy-
genase (C230) activity against catechol was observed in the cell-free extracts of the culture grown on these
compounds and were in the order: m- > o- > p-cresol.