Halorespiring bacteria-molecular characterization and detection

Recently a rapidly increasing number of bacteria has been isolated that is able to couple the reductive dehalogenation of various halogenated aromatic and aliphatic compounds like chlorophenols and tetrachloroethene to energy conservation by electron-transport-coupled phosphorylation. The potential of these halorespiring bacteria for innovative clean-up strategies of pollu ted anoxic environments has greatly stimulated efforts to unravel the molec ular basis of the novel respiratory chains they possess. The thorough chara cterization of halorespiratory key components at the physiological, biochem ical and molecular genetic lever has revealed both structural and functiona l similarity of chloroaryl- and chloroalkyl respiratory chains from differe nt phylogenetically distinct microorganisms. The reductive dehalogenases fr om halorespiring bacteria were found to comprise a novel class of corrinoid -containing Fe/S-proteins. Sensitive molecular methods for monitoring both presence and fate of halorespiring bacteria have been developed, which will be instrumental for the design and maintenance of optimised in situ biorem ediation processes. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.