Candidatus Sulfurospirillum diekertiae Genome sequencing and assembly. Sulfurospirillum diekertiae strain:SL2-1

Respiration with halogenated organic compounds (organohalide respiration) is poorly understood but can aid in bioremediation of contaminated sites. Two Sulfurospirillum strains able to respire with halogenated ethenes have been highly enriched. One strain (Candidatus S. diekertiae strain SL2-1) is only able to dechlorinate tetrachloroethene to trichloroethene, while the other one is only able to carry out two dechlorination steps from tetrachloroethene to cis-dichloroethene. Since the genomes of the two strains are highly similar, the comparison can help to understand the dehalogenation reactions in more detail and help to understand why reductive dechlorination of tetrachloroethene stalls at the three harmful substances trichloroethene, dichloroethene or vinyl chloride in many organisms instead of being dechlorinated completeley to the harmless ethene.