Genome sequence of the PCE-dechlorinating bacterium Dehalococcoides ethenogenes

Science. 2005 Jan 7;307(5706):105-8. doi: 10.1126/science.1102226.

Abstract

Dehalococcoides ethenogenes is the only bacterium known to reductively dechlorinate the groundwater pollutants, tetrachloroethene (PCE) and trichloroethene, to ethene. Its 1,469,720-base pair chromosome contains large dynamic duplicated regions and integrated elements. Genes encoding 17 putative reductive dehalogenases, nearly all of which were adjacent to genes for transcription regulators, and five hydrogenase complexes were identified. These findings, plus a limited repertoire of other metabolic modes, indicate that D. ethenogenes is highly evolved to utilize halogenated organic compounds and H2. Diversification of reductive dehalogenase functions appears to have been mediated by recent genetic exchange and amplification. Genome analysis provides insights into the organism's complex nutrient requirements and suggests that an ancestor was a nitrogen-fixing autotroph.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acids / biosynthesis
  • Biodegradation, Environmental
  • Chloroflexi / genetics*
  • Chloroflexi / metabolism*
  • Gene Duplication
  • Genes, Bacterial
  • Genome, Bacterial*
  • Hydrogen / metabolism
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Nitrogenase / genetics
  • Nitrogenase / metabolism
  • Operon
  • Oxidation-Reduction
  • Oxidoreductases / genetics
  • Oxidoreductases / metabolism
  • Quinones / metabolism
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • Tetrachloroethylene / metabolism*
  • Transcription Factors / genetics
  • Transcription Factors / metabolism
  • Water Pollutants, Chemical / metabolism

Substances

  • Amino Acids
  • Quinones
  • Transcription Factors
  • Water Pollutants, Chemical
  • Hydrogen
  • Oxidoreductases
  • tetrachloroethene dehalogenase
  • Nitrogenase
  • Tetrachloroethylene

Associated data

  • GENBANK/CP000027