Enzymic Methylation of Ascorbigen and Demethylation of Its N-Methyl Derivative by Pseudomonas savastanoi pv. phaseolicola Bacteria

Biotransformation of ascorbigen and N-methylascorbigen as a model compound pair was studied in the presence of Pseudomonas savastanoi pv. phaseolicola bacterium cells. These compounds were separated from a methanolic mixture by using an overpressured layer chromatographic method. After saturation of the developed chromatoplates with the bacterial cell suspension, the composition of the chromatographic spots was analyzed by means of high performance liquid chromatography. Pattern recognition by independent multicategory analysis was used to compare of the retention behavior of the standard and putative ascorbigen and methylascorbigen, and to manage the analytical data. Results showed that ascorbigen was partially methylated and N-methylascorbigen was partially demethylated by the bacteria. Our new results confirm the former assumption that formaldehyde is formed by demethylation of the N-methyl group of methylascorbigen.