Degradation of styrene under anaerobic conditions was
observed in an anaerobic consortium enriched on styrene
and ferulic acid [26]. Although a wide range of aromatic
intermediates was detected, the principal route of styrene
degradation under these conditions was proposed to involve
conversion to PAA via 2-phenylethanol and PAAL.
This pathway bears similarity to the aerobic transformations
of styrene. The initial step in aerobic degradation of
styrene utilises molecular oxygen while it is thought that
anaerobic bacteria derive the necessary oxygen from available
water. Divergence of the aerobic and anaerobic pathways
arises with the respective downstream processing of
PAA. Anaerobic consortia are thought to convert PAA to
benzoic acid via benzyl alcohol and benzaldehyde, much
like the meta-cleavage pathway of toluene degradation encoded
by the TOL plasmid, pWW0 [26].