Biodegradation of allethrin, a pyrethroid insecticide, by an Acidomonas sp

Allethrin is a major mosquito repellent agent. To degrade allethrin present in used mats and the environment, a bacterium capable of utilizing allethrin was isolated. This isolate, an Acidomonas sp., grew in minimal medium with 16 mM: allethrin as sole source of carbon and degraded >70% of it in 72 h, with negligible residual metabolites in the medium. Culture filtrates collected after 48 h and 72 h showed presence of (i) cyclopropanecarboxylic acid, 2,2-dimethyl-3-(2-methyl-1-propenyl), (ii) 2-ethyl-1,3-dimethyl-cyclopent-2-ene-carboxylic acid (iii) chrysanthemic acid and (iv) allethrolone [2-cyclopenten-l-one, 4-hydroxy-3-methyl-2(-2-propenyl)] as the major metabolites with 2 minor metabolites. Allethrin is thus metabolized by a hydrolytic pathway followed by oxidation and dehydrogenation.