Biphenyl dioxygenase from the psychrotolerant bacterium Pseudomonas sp. strain Cam-1 (BPDO(Cam-1)) was purified and found to have an apparent k(cat) for biphenyl of 1.1 +/- 0.1 s(-1) (mean +/- standard deviation) at 4 degrees C. In contrast, BPDO(LB400) from the mesophile Burkholderia xenovorans LB400 had no detectable activity at this temperature. At 57 degrees C, the half-life of the BPDO(Cam-1) oxygenase was less than half that of the BPDO(LB400) oxygenase. Nevertheless, BPDO(Cam-1) appears to be a typical Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes KF707-type dioxygenase.