Microbial dehalogenation of haloaliphatic compounds

Microorganisms remove halogens from aliphatic compounds by the activity of enzymes known as dehalogenases. Microbes synthesizing these enzymes are widely distributed and easily isolated (Slater and Bull 1982; Hardman et al. 1988; Hardman 1991) because many naturally-occurring halogenated compounds are present throughout the biosphere (Marais 1944; Bracken 1954; Petty 1961; Fowden 1968; Murray and Riley 1973; Suida and DeBernardis 1973; Lovelock 1975; King 1986, 1988; Vogel et al. 1987; Symonds et al. 1988). Microbes have evolved dehalogenating mechanisms for two main reasons: firstly, to use halogenated compounds as growth nutrients and, secondly, as detoxification mechanisms since many of these compounds are potent metabolic inhibitors.