Biotransformation of adenine and cytokinins by the rhizobacterium Serratia proteamaculans

The xanthine dehydrogenase of Serratia proteamaculans catalyzed the C8-oxidation of adenine, N6-benzyladenine and N6-(isopentenyl)adenine. The two genes encoding the enzyme were cloned and found to be most similar (60% and 72%) to those of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.