Abstract:[Objective] We characterizeda manganese catalase lacking n-terminal (MnCAT-C),to revealits roles in bacterial growth,reactive oxygen species (ROS) removal and degradation of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in Rhodococcus sp. R04.[Methods]Manganese catalase (Mn-CAT) sequence of the strain R04 was aligned with that of Rhodococcus sp. R1101.Mn-CAT and MnCAT-C were expressed in E.coli BL21 (DE3),and the target protein was purified with Q-sepharose and ammonium sulphate precipitation.Knockout strain was obtained by homologous recombination. ROS was measured by fluorescence polarization,and the degradation rate of PCBs was measured by HPLC.[Results] MnCAT-C protein was purified,and SDS-PAGE analysis showed that its molecular weight was 23 kDa.Compared with wild strains,the ROS concentration increased,and the growth rate was inhibited in knockout strains.Moreover,the degradationrate of PCBs decreased.[Conclusion]MnCAT-C retained the majority of the active properties of the original enzyme,including ROS clearance.The lack of MnCAT-C gene affected the growth rate and the PCBsdegradationrate instrain R04.