Bacterial dehalorespiration with chlorinated benzenes

Chlorobenzenes are toxic, highly persistent and ubiquitously distributed environmental contaminants that accumulate in the food chain1. The only known microbial transformation of 1,2,3,5-tetrachlorobenzene (TeCB) and higher chlorinated benzenes is the reductive dechlorination to lower chlorinated benzenes under anaerobic conditions observed with mixed bacterial cultures2,3,4. The lower chlorinated benzenes can subsequently be mineralized by aerobic bacteria. Here we describe the isolation of the oxygen-sensitive strain CBDB1, a pure culture capable of reductive dechlorination of chlorobenzenes. Strain CBDB1 is a highly specialized bacterium that stoichiometrically dechlorinates 1,2,3-trichlorobenzene (TCB), 1,2,4-TCB, 1,2,3,4-TeCB, 1,2,3,5-TeCB and 1,2,4,5-TeCB to dichlorobenzenes or 1,3,5-TCB. The presence of chlorobenzene as an electron acceptor and hydrogen as an electron donor is essential for growth, and indicates that strain CBDB1 meets its energy needs by a dehalorespiratory process. According to their 16S rRNA gene sequences, strain CBDB1, Dehalococcoides ethenogenes5 and several uncultivated bacteria form a new bacterial cluster, of which strain CBDB1 is the first, so far, to thrive on a purely synthetic medium.