Dehalobacterium formicoaceticum isolate:X Genome sequencing

Dichloromethane (DCM, CH2Cl2) is an organic chlorinated compound generated from human activities (industrial emissions) and natural activities (such as volcanoes, ocean emissions, and biomass burning). Various microorganisms have had sufficient time to evolve mechanisms and pathways to degrade DCM as a growth factor. Under aerobic conditions, DCM has been found to be degradable by numerous methylotrophic bacteria possessing glutathione-dependent dichloromethane dehalogenases. By comparison, studies on anaerobic DCM-degrading microorganisms are limited, and there is a lack of in-depth understanding of the anaerobic catabolic pathways. Currently, a liminted number of anaerobic microorsmas capable of DCM dechloriaont was described and characterized, including Dehalobacterium formicoaceticum strain DMC, strain EZ94. Recently, we have successful enriched a consortium harboring Dehalobacterium formicoaceticum strain X from Xi River sediments (Shenyang, Liaoning, China), which shares more than 98.90% 16S rRNA gene sequence identity with the only isolate strain DMC. The ability of strain X to degrade DCM was possible attributed to the possession of the complete suite of genes necessary for both methylene chloride catabolism and the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway.