Cupriavidus necator H16 (DSM 428), whose genome has been sequenced, was found to degrade N-acetyltaurine as a sole source of carbon and energy for growth. Utilization of the compound was quantitative. The degradative pathway involved an inducible N-acetyltaurine amidohydrolase (NaaS), which catalysed the cleavage of N-acetyltaurine to acetate and taurine. The degradation of the latter compound is via an inducible, degradative pathway that involves taurine dehydrogenase [EC 1.4.2.-], sulfoacetaldehyde acetyltransferase [EC 2.3.3.15], phosphotransacetylase [EC 2.4.1.8], a sulfite exporter [TC 9.A.29.2.1] and sulfite dehydrogenase [EC 1.8.2.1]. Induction of the expression of representative gene products, encoded by at least four gene clusters, was confirmed biochemically. The acetate released by NaaS was activated to acetyl-CoA by an inducible acetate-CoA ligase [EC 6.2.1.1]. NaaS was purified to homogeneity; it had a K(m) value of 9.4 mM for N-acetyltaurine, and it contained tightly bound Zn and Fe atoms. The denatured enzyme has a molecular mass of about 61 kDa (determined by SDS-PAGE) and the native enzyme was apparently monomeric. Peptide-mass fingerprinting identified the locus tag as H16_B0868 in a five-gene cluster, naaROPST (H16_B0865-H16_B0869). The cluster presumably encodes a LysR-type transcriptional regulator (NaaR), a membrane protein (NaaO), a solute : sodium symporter-family permease [TC 2.A.21] (NaaP), the metal-dependent amidohydrolase (NaaS) and a putative metallochaperone (COG0523) (NaaT). Reverse-transcription PCR indicated that naaOPST were inducibly transcribed.