Abstract
The Arthrobacter species can degrade phenol, o-cresol and p-cresol much faster (as reflected in high specific growth rates) than other microbes which are reported to degrade toxic compounds. In mixtures, phenol and p-cresol mutually inhibited each other; the inhibition constants show that phenol degradation is strongly inhibited in the presence of p-cresol rather than reverse. o-Cresol enhanced phenol degradation marginally but o-cresol degradation was not affected by the presence of phenol.
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Kar, S., Swaminathan, T. & Baradarajan, A. Biodegradation of phenol and cresol isomer mixtures by Arthrobacter. World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology 13, 659–663 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018518904730
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018518904730