Sphingobium species are different from other sphingomonads

Sphingomonas

Sphingomonas was defined in 1990 as a group of Gram-negative, rod-shaped, chemoheterotrophic, strictly aerobic bacteria. They possess ubiquinone 10 as their major respiratory quinone, contain glycosphingolipids instead of lipopolysaccharide in their cell envelopes, and typically produce...

 in that they are commonly isolated from soil, however Sphingobium yanoikuyae was isolated from a clinical specimen. The can degrade a variety of chemicals in the environment such as aromatic and chloroaromatic compounds, phenol

Phenol

Phenol, also known as carbolic acid, phenic acid, is an organic compound with the chemical formula C6H5OH. It is a white crystalline solid. The molecule consists of a phenyl , bonded to a hydroxyl group. It is produced on a large scale as a precursor to many materials and useful compounds...

s like nonylphenol and pentachlorophenol, herbicides such as (RS)-2-(4-chloro-2-methylphenoxy) propionic acid, and polycyclic

Polycyclic compound

In organic chemistry, a polycyclic compound is a cyclic compound with more than one hydrocarbon loop or ring structures . In general, the term includes all polycyclic aromatic compounds, including the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, the heterocyclic aromatic compounds containing sulfur,...

 aromatic hydrocarbon

Aromatic hydrocarbon

An aromatic hydrocarbon or arene is a hydrocarbon with alternating double and single bonds between carbon atoms. The term 'aromatic' was assigned before the physical mechanism determining aromaticity was discovered, and was derived from the fact that many of the compounds have a sweet scent...

s.