Various aerobic Gram-negative bacteria have been examined for their ability to use 4-hydroxybutyrate and 1,4-butanediol as carbon source for growth. Alcaligenes eutrophus strains H16, HF39, PHB-4 and Pseudomonas denitrificans 'Morris' were not able to grow with 1,4-butanediol or 4-hydroxybutyrate. From A. eutrophus HF39 spontaneous primary mutants (e.g. SK4040) were isolated which grew on 4-hydroxybutyrate with doubling times of approximately 3 h. Tn5::mob mutagenesis of mutant SK4040 led to the isolation of two phenotypically different classes of secondary mutants which were affected in the utilization of 4-hydroxybutyrate. Mutants exhibiting the phenotype 4-hydroxybutyrate-negative did not grow with 4-hydroxybutyrate, and mutants exhibiting the phenotype 4-hydroxybutyrate-leaky grew at a significantly lower rate with 4-hydroxybutyrate. Hybridization experiments led to the identification of a 10-kbp genomic EcoRI fragment of A. eutrophus SK4040, which was altered in mutants with the phenotype 4-hydroxybutyrate-negative, and of two 1-kbp and 4.5-kbp genomic EcoRI fragments, which were altered in mutants with the phenotype 4-hydroxybutyrate-leaky. This 10-kbp EcoRI fragment was cloned from A. eutrophus SK4040, and conjugative transfer of a pVDZ'2 hybrid plasmid to A. eutrophus H16 conferred the ability to grow with 4-hydroxybutyrate to the wild type. DNA-sequence analysis of this fragment, enzymic analysis of the wild type and of mutants of A. eutrophus as well as of recombinant strains of Escherichia coli led to the identification of a structural gene encoding for a 4-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase which was affected by transposon mutagenesis in five of six available 4-hydroxybutyrate-negative mutants. Enzymic studies also provided evidence for the presence of an active succinate-semialdehyde dehydrogenase in 4-hydroxybutyrate-grown cells. This indicated that degradation of 4-hydroxybutyrate occurs via succinate semialdehyde and succinate and that the latter is degraded by the citric acid cycle. NMR studies of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-4-hydroxybutyrate) accumulated from 4-hydroxy [1-13C]butyrate or 4-hydroxy[2-13C]butyrate as substrate gave no evidence for a direct conversion of 4-hydroxybutyrate into 3-hydroxybutyrate and therefore supported the results of enzymic analysis.