title: Overview of organohalide-respiring bacteria and a proposal for a classification system for reductive dehalogenases.
abstract: Organohalide respiration is an anaerobic bacterial respiratory process that uses halogenated hydrocarbons as terminal electron acceptors during electron transport-based energy conservation. This dechlorination process has triggered considerable interest for detoxification of anthropogenic groundwater contaminants. Organohalide-respiring bacteria have been identified from multiple bacterial phyla, and can be categorized as obligate and non-obligate organohalide respirers. The majority of the currently known organohalide-respiring bacteria carry multiple reductive dehalogenase genes. Analysis of a curated set of reductive dehalogenases reveals that sequence similarity and substrate specificity are generally not correlated, making functional prediction from sequence information difficult. In this article, an orthologue-based classification system for the reductive dehalogenases is proposed to aid integration of new sequencing data and to unify terminology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Laura A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Hug
authors.forename: Farai
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Maphosa
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Leys
authors.forename: Frank E
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Löffler
authors.forename: Hauke
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Smidt
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.forename: Lorenz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Adrian
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D030541:Databases, Genetic; D045858:Desulfitobacterium / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D004579:Electron Transport; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D006846:Hydrocarbons, Halogenated / Q000378:metabolism*; D006867:Hydrolases / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D010802:Phylogeny; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D013045:Species Specificity; D013379:Substrate Specificity
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D006846:Hydrocarbons, Halogenated; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D006867:Hydrolases