Accumulation Of A Pharmacologically Important 17-Ketosteroid During Side Chain Cleavage of Cholesterol by Pseudomonas putida MTCC 1259

A screening of various microbial strains of MTCC for side chain cleavage of cholesterol was attempted. Many microorganisms were found to utilize cholesterol as sole source of carbon and energy. A pharmacologically important 17-keto steroid accumulated during side chain cleavage of cholesterol by Pseudomonas putida MTCC 1259 when n-propanol was used as an inhibitor of ring cleavage. The product accumulated during bioconversion was proposed to be 9 ±-hydroxy-androstenedione on the basis of Infrared and Mass Spectroscopic analysis. It is inferred that n-propanol inhibited C-1(2)-dehydrogenase of Pseudomonas putida MTCC 1259 since C-1(2)-dehydrogenated product did not appear in the bioconversion medium.