In the presence of the enzyme
gentisate 1,2-dioxygenase and oxygen, gentisic acid undergoes a ring-opening reaction to give
3-maleylpyruvic acid: This reaction has been used to detect gentisic acid with a whole-cell biosensor developed from a 3-maleylpyruvic acid-inducible gene expression system and the gentisate 1,2-dioxygenase gene from
chemolithoautotrophic bacterium
Cupriavidus necator. == Applications ==