2.9. Aromatic Compound Degradation Assay

The method for detection of anthranilate and catechol degradation was carried out as previously described [46]. Bacterial isolates were tested in biological triplicate and analyzed with two technical replicates. The compounds and degradation products were separated on an Agilent 1260 Infinity Quaternary LC (Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, CA, USA) outfitted with an Eclipse Plus C₁₈ column (4.6 mm ID × 250 mm, 5 µm particle size, Agilent Technologies) and using a flow rate of 1 mL/min and a 15 min gradient from 5–25% MeOH (0.1% “v/v” formic acid), monitoring 210 nm and 230 nm. Standard curves were generated for both anthranilate and catechol using known concentrations of each compound, prepared in triplicate.