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A mechanistic perspective on bacterial metabolism of chlorinated methanes

  • Focus Section: Microbial Metabolism of C1-Pollutants
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Abstract

Chlorinated methanes are important environmental pollutants, which can be metabolized by bacteria. The biotransformation of chlorinated methanes by bacteria has been shown to be due either to gratuitous metabolism (cometabolism) or their use as a source of carbon and energy. The reactions which result in carbon-halogen bond cleavage include substitutive, reductive, oxygenative, and gem-elimination mechanisms. Certain methylotrophic bacteria can use dichloromethane as a source of carbon and energy. Dichloromethane dehalogenase catalyzes the first substitutive reaction in this metabolism. The enzyme shows a 1010-fold rate enhancement over the reaction of the bisulfide anion with dichloromethane in water. Pseudomonas putida G786 synthesizes cytochrome P-450CAM which catalyzes the gratuitous reduction of chlorinated methanes. These studies with purified enzymes are beginning to reveal more detailed mechanistic features of bacterial chlorinated methane metabolism.

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Abbreviations

DNA:

deoxyribonucleic acid

kcat :

catalytic first order rate constant for an enzyme catalyzed reaction

KM :

Michaelis constant for an enzyme catalyzed reaction

MNDO:

modified neglect of diatomic overlap

PIMA:

pattern induced multialignment

DCMD:

dichloromethane dehalogenase

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  1. Department of Biochemistry, University of Minnesota, 55108, St. Paul, MN, USA

    Lawrence P. Wackett, Michael S. P. Logan & Frank A. Blocki

  2. Institute for Advanced Studies in Biological Process Technology, University of Minnesota, 55108, St. Paul, MN, USA

    Lawrence P. Wackett, Michael S. P. Logan & Frank A. Blocki

  3. Institute of Molecular Biology, Nankai University, Tianjin, People's Republic of China

    Cai Bao-li

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  1. Lawrence P. Wackett
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Wackett, L.P., Logan, M.S.P., Blocki, F.A. et al. A mechanistic perspective on bacterial metabolism of chlorinated methanes. Biodegradation 3, 19–36 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00189633

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