Purification and characterization of a novel 3-chlorobenzoate-reductive dehalogenase from the cytoplasmic membrane of Desulfomonile tiedjei DCB-1

Occurrence of several genes encoding putative reductive dehalogenases in Desulfitobacterium hafniense/frappieri and Dehalococcoides ethenogenes

Desulfitobacterium frappieri PCP-1 has the capacity to dehalogenate several halogenated aromatic compounds by reductive dehalogenation, however, the genes encoding the enzymes involved in such processes have not yet been identified. Using a degenerate oligonucleotide corresponding to a conserved sequence of CprA/PceA reductive dehalogenases, a cprA-like gene fragment was amplified by PCR from this bacterial strain. A Desulfitobacterium frappieri PCP-1 cosmid library was screened with the PCR product, allowing the cloning and sequencing of a 1.9-kb fragment. This fragment contains a nucleic acid sequence identical to one genomic contig of Desulfitobacterium hafniense, a bacterium closely related to Desulfitobacterium frappieri that is also involved in reductive dehalogenation. Other genes related to the Desulfitobacterium dehalogenans cpr locus were identified in this contig. Interestingly, the gene arrangement shows the presence of two copies of cprA-, cprB-, cprC-, cprD-, cprK-, and cprT-related genes, suggesting that gene duplication occurred within this chromosomic region. The screening of Delfitobacterium hafniense genomic contigs with a CprA-deduced amino acid sequence revealed two other cprA-like genes. Microbial genomes available in gene databases were also analyzed for sequences related to CprA/PceA. Two open reading frames encoding other putative reductive dehalogenases in Desulfitobacterium hafniense contigs were detected, along with 17 in the Dehalococcoides ethenogenes genome, a bacterium involved in the reductive dehalogenation of tetrachloroethene to ethene. The fact that several gene encoding putative reductive dehalogenases exist in Delfitobacterium hafniense, probably in other members of the genus Desulfitobacterium, and in Dehalococcoides ethenogenes suggests that these bacteria use distinct but related enzymes to achieve the dehalogenation of several chlorinated compounds [corrected].

Characterization of the B12- and iron-sulfur-containing reductive dehalogenase from Desulfitobacterium chlororespirans

The United Nations and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have identified a variety of chlorinated aromatics that constitute a significant health and environmental risk as "priority organic pollutants," the so-called "dirty dozen." Microbes have evolved the ability to utilize chlorinated aromatics as terminal electron acceptors in an energy-generating process called dehalorespiration. In this process, a reductive dehalogenase (CprA), couples the oxidation of an electron donor to the reductive elimination of chloride. We have characterized the B12 and iron-sulfur cluster-containing 3-chloro-4-hydroxybenzoate reductive dehalogenase from Desulfitobacterium chlororespirans. By defining the substrate and inhibitor specificity for the dehalogenase, the enzyme was found to require an hydroxyl group ortho to the halide. Inhibition studies indicate that the hydroxyl group is required for substrate binding. The carboxyl group can be replaced by other functionalities, e.g. acetyl or halide groups, ortho or meta to the chloride to be eliminated. The purified D. chlororespirans enzyme could dechlorinate an hydroxylated PCB (3,3',5,5'-tetrachloro-4,4'-biphenyldiol) at a rate about 1% of that with 3-chloro-4-hydroxybenzoate. Solvent deuterium isotope effect studies indicate that transfer of a single proton is partially rate-limiting in the dehalogenation reaction.

Reductive, coenzyme A-mediated pathway for 3-chlorobenzoate degradation in the phototrophic bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris

We isolated a strain of Rhodopseudomonas palustris (RCB100) by selective enrichment in light on 3-chlorobenzoate to investigate the steps that it uses to accomplish anaerobic dechlorination. Analyses of metabolite pools as well as enzyme assays suggest that R. palustris grows on 3-chlorobenzoate by (i) converting it to 3-chlorobenzoyl coenzyme A (3-chlorobenzoyl-CoA), (ii) reductively dehalogenating 3-chlorobenzoyl-CoA to benzoyl-CoA, and (iii) degrading benzoyl-CoA to acetyl-CoA and carbon dioxide. R. palustris uses 3-chlorobenzoate only as a carbon source and thus incorporates the acetyl-CoA that is produced into cell material. The reductive dechlorination route used by R. palustris for 3-chlorobenzoate degradation differs from those previously described in that a CoA thioester, rather than an unmodified aromatic acid, is the substrate for complete dehalogenation.

Trichloroethene reductive dehalogenase from Dehalococcoides ethenogenes: sequence of tceA and substrate range characterization

The anaerobic bacterium Dehalococcoides ethenogenes is the only known organism that can completely dechlorinate tetrachloroethene or trichloroethene (TCE) to ethene via dehalorespiration. One of two corrinoid-containing enzymes responsible for this pathway, TCE reductive dehalogenase (TCE-RDase) catalyzes the dechlorination of TCE to ethene. TCE-RDase dehalogenated 1,2-dichloroethane and 1, 2-dibromoethane to ethene at rates of 7.5 and 30 micromol/min/mg, respectively, similar to the rates for TCE, cis-dichloroethene (DCE), and 1,1-DCE. A variety of other haloalkanes and haloalkenes containing three to five carbon atoms were dehalogenated at lower rates. The gene encoding TCE-RDase, tceA, was cloned and sequenced via an inverse PCR approach. Sequence comparisons of tceA to proteins in the public databases revealed weak sequence similarity confined to the C-terminal region, which contains the eight-iron ferredoxin cluster binding motif, (CXXCXXCXXXCP)(2). Direct N-terminal sequencing of the mature enzyme indicated that the first 42 amino acids constitute a signal sequence containing the twin-arginine motif, RRXFXK, associated with the Sec-independent membrane translocation system. This information coupled with membrane localization studies indicated that TCE-RDase is located on the exterior of the cytoplasmic membrane. Like the case for the two other RDases that have been cloned and sequenced, a small open reading frame, tceB, is proposed to be involved with membrane association of TCE-RDase and is predicted to be cotranscribed with tceA.

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 polluted anoxic environments has greatly stimulated efforts to unravel the molecular basis of the novel respiratory chains they possess. The thorough characterization of halorespiratory key components at the physiological, biochemical and molecular genetic level has revealed both structural and functional similarity of chloroaryl- and chloroalkyl-respiratory chains from different phylogenetically distinct microorganisms. The reductive dehalogenases from 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 bioremediation processes.

Tetrachloroethene-dehalogenating bacteria

Tetrachloroethene is a frequent groundwater contaminant often persisting in the subsurface environments. It is recalcitrant under aerobic conditions because it is in a highly oxidized state and is not readily susceptible to oxidation. Nevertheless, at least 15 organisms from different metabolic groups, viz. halorespirators (9), acetogens (2), methanogens (3) and facultative anaerobes (2), that are able to metabolize tetrachloroethene have been isolated as axenic cultures to-date. Some of these organisms couple dehalo-genation to energy conservation and utilize tetrachloroethene as the only source of energy while others dehalogenate tetrachloroethene fortuitously. Halorespiring organisms (halorespirators) utilize halogenated organic compounds as electron acceptors in an anaerobic respiratory process. Different organisms exhibit differences in the final products of tetrachloroethene dehalogenation, some strains convert tetrachloroethene to trichloroethene only, while others also carry out consecutive dehalogenation to dichloroethenes and vinyl chloride. Thus far, only a single organism, 'Dehalococcoides ethenogenes' strain 195, has been isolated which dechlorinates tetrachloroethene all the way down to ethylene. The majority of tetrachloroethene-dehalogenating organisms have been isolated only in the past few years and several of them, i.e., Dehalobacter restrictus, Desulfitobacterium dehalogenans, 'Dehalococcoides ethenogenes', 'Dehalospirillum multivorans', Desulfuromonas chloroethenica, and Desulfomonile tiedjei, are representatives of new taxonomic groups. This contribution summarizes the available information regarding the axenic cultures of the tetrachloroethene-dehalogenating bacteria. The present knowledge about the isolation of these organisms, their physiological characteristics, morphology, taxonomy and their ability to dechlorinate tetrachloroethene is presented to facilitate a comprehensive comparison.

Purification and molecular characterization of ortho-chlorophenol reductive dehalogenase, a key enzyme of halorespiration in Desulfitobacterium dehalogenans

ortho-Chlorophenol reductive dehalogenase of the halorespiring Gram-positive Desulfitobacterium dehalogenans was purified 90-fold to apparent homogeneity. The purified dehalogenase catalyzed the reductive removal of a halogen atom from the ortho position of 3-chloro-4-hydroxyphenylacetate, 2-chlorophenol, 2,3-dichlorophenol, 2,4-dichlorophenol, 2,6-dichlorophenol, pentachlorophenol, and 2-bromo-4-chlorophenol with reduced methyl viologen as electron donor. The dechlorination of 3-chloro-4-hydroxyphenylacetate was catalyzed by the enzyme at a Vmax of 28 units/mg protein and a Km of 20 microM. The pH and temperature optimum were 8.2 and 52 degrees C, respectively. EPR analysis indicated one [4Fe-4S] cluster (midpoint redox potential (Em) = -440 mV), one [3Fe-4S] cluster (Em = +70 mV), and one cobalamin per 48-kDa monomer. The Co(I)/Co(II) transition had an Em of -370 mV. Via a reversed genetic approach based on the N-terminal sequence, the corresponding gene was isolated from a D. dehalogenans genomic library, cloned, and sequenced. This revealed the presence of two closely linked genes: (i) cprA, encoding the o-chlorophenol reductive dehalogenase, which contains a twin-arginine type signal sequence that is processed in the purified enzyme; (ii) cprB, coding for an integral membrane protein that could act as a membrane anchor of the dehalogenase. This first biochemical and molecular characterization of a chlorophenol reductive dehalogenase has revealed structural resemblance with haloalkene reductive dehalogenases.

Evidence for a chemiosmotic model of dehalorespiration in Desulfomonile tiedjei DCB-1

Desulfomonile tiedjei DCB-1, a sulfate-reducing bacterium, conserves energy for growth from reductive dehalogenation of 3-chlorobenzoate by an uncharacterized chemiosmotic process. Respiratory electron transport components were examined in D. tiedjei cells grown under conditions for reductive dehalogenation, pyruvate fermentation, and sulfate reduction. Reductive dehalogenation was inhibited by the respiratory quinone inhibitor 2-heptyl-4-hydroxyquinoline N-oxide, suggesting that a respiratory quinoid is a component of the electron transport chain coupled to reductive dehalogenation. Moreover, reductive dehalogenation activity was dependent on 1, 4-naphthoquinone, a possible precursor for a respiratory quinoid. However, no ubiquinone or menaquinone could be extracted from D. tiedjei. Rather, a UV-absorbing quinoid which is different from common respiratory quinones in chemical structure according to mass spectrometric and UV absorption spectroscopic analyses was extracted. ATP sulfurylase, adenosine phosphosulfate reductase, and desulfoviridin sulfite reductase, enzymes involved in sulfate reduction, were constitutively expressed in the cytoplasm of D. tiedjei cells grown under all three metabolic conditions. A periplasmic hydrogenase was detected in cells grown under reductive-dehalogenating and pyruvate-fermenting conditions. A membrane-bound, periplasm-oriented formate dehydrogenase was detected only in cells grown with formate as electron donor, while a cytoplasmic formate dehydrogenase was detected in cells grown under reductive-dehalogenating and pyruvate-fermenting conditions. Results from dehalogenation assays with D. tiedjei whole-cell suspensions and cell extracts suggest that the membrane-bound reductive dehalogenase is cytoplasm oriented. The data clearly demonstrate an enzyme topology in D. tiedjei which produces protons directly in the periplasm, generating a proton motive force by a scalar mechanism.

Directed evolution of new enzymes and pathways for environmental biocatalysis

Biocatalysis is important in both natural and engineered environments. The major global reactions in the biospheric cycling of carbon, nitrogen, and other elements are catalyzed by microorganisms. The global carbon cycle includes millions of organic compounds that are made by plants, microorganisms, and organic chemists. Most of those compounds are transformed by microbial enzymes. Degradative metabolism is known as catabolism and yields principally carbon dioxide, methane, or biomass. Microbial catabolic enzymes are a great resource for biotechnology. They are the building blocks for engineering novel metabolic pathways and evolving improved enzymes in the laboratory. Two multicomponent bacterial oxygeneases, cytochrome P450cam and toluene dioxygenase, catalyze the dechlorination of polyhalogenated C2 compounds. Seven genes encoding those functional enzyme complexes were coexpressed in a Pseudomonas and shown to metabolize pentachloreothane to nonhalogenated organic acids that were metabolized further to carbon dioxide. In another example, the enzyme catalyzing the dechlorination of the herbicide atrazine was subjected to iterative DNA shuffling to produce mutations. By using a plate screening assay, mutated atrazine chlorohydrolase that catalyzed a more rapid dechlorination of atrazine was obtained. The mutant genes were sequences and found to encode up to 11 amino acid changes. Atrazine chlorohydrolase is currently being used in a model municipal water treatment system to test the feasibility of using enzymes for atrazine decontamination. These data suggest that the natural diversity of bacterial catabolic enzymes provides the starting point for improved biocatalytic systems that meet the needs of commercial applications.

Purification and characterization of the 3-chloro-4-hydroxy-phenylacetate reductive dehalogenase of Desulfitobacterium hafniense

The membrane-bound 3-chloro-4-hydroxyphenylacetate (Cl-OHPA) reductive dehalogenase from the chlorophenol-reducing anaerobe Desulfitobacterium hafniense was purified 11.3-fold to apparent homogeneity in the presence of the detergent CHAPS. The purified dehalogenase catalyzed the reductive dechlorination of Cl-OHPA to 4-hydroxyphenylacetate with reduced methyl viologen as the electron donor at a specific activity of 103.2 nkat/mg protein. SDS-PAGE revealed a single protein band with an apparent molecular mass of 46.5 kDa. The enzyme contained 0.68 +/- 0.2 mol corrinoid, 12.0 +/- 0.7 mol iron, and 13.0 +/- 0.7 mol acid-labile sulfur per mol subunit. The N-terminal amino acid sequence of the enzyme was determined and no significant similarity was found to any protein present in the gene bank.

Reductive dechlorination of tetrachloroethene to ethene by a two-component enzyme pathway

Two membrane-bound, reductive dehalogenases that constitute a novel pathway for complete dechlorination of tetrachloroethene (perchloroethylene [PCE]) to ethene were partially purified from an anaerobic microbial enrichment culture containing Dehalococcoides ethenogenes 195. When titanium (III) citrate and methyl viologen were used as reductants, PCE-reductive dehalogenase (PCE-RDase) (51 kDa) dechlorinated PCE to trichloroethene (TCE) at a rate of 20 micromol/min/mg of protein. TCE-reductive dehalogenase (TCE-RDase) (61 kDa) dechlorinated TCE to ethene. TCE, cis-1,2-dichloroethene, and 1,1-dichloroethene were dechlorinated at similar rates, 8 to 12 micromol/min/mg of protein. Vinyl chloride and trans-1,2-dichloroethene were degraded at rates which were approximately 2 orders of magnitude lower. The light-reversible inhibition of TCE-RDase by iodopropane and the light-reversible inhibition of PCE-RDase by iodoethane suggest that both of these dehalogenases contain Co(I) corrinoid cofactors. Isolation and characterization of these novel bacterial enzymes provided further insight into the catalytic mechanisms of biological reductive dehalogenation.

Reduction of 3-chlorobenzoate, 3-bromobenzoate, and benzoate to corresponding alcohols by Desulfomicrobium escambiense, isolated from a 3-chlorobenzoate-dechlorinating coculture

An anaerobic bacterial coculture which dechlorinated 3-chlorobenzoate (3CB) to benzoate was obtained by single-colony isolation from an anaerobic bacterial consortium which completely degraded 3CB in defined medium. Of 29 additional halogenated aromatic compounds tested, the coculture removed the meta halogen from 2,3- and 2,5-dichlorobenzoate, 3-bromobenzoate (3BB), 5-chlorovanillate (5CV), and 3-chloro-4-hydroxybenzoate. Dechlorinating activity in the coculture required the presence of pyruvate. 5CV was also O-demethoxylated. The coculture contained two cell types: a short, straight gram-negative rod and a long, thin, curved gram-positive rod. The short rod, Desulfomicrobium escambiense, was recently isolated and identified as a new sulfate-reducing bacterial species (B. R. Sharak Genthner, S. D. Friedman, and R. Devereux, Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 47:889-892, 1997; B. R. Sharak Genthner, G. Mundfrom, and R. Devereux, Arch. Microbiol. 161:215-219, 1994). D. escambiense did not dehalogenate any of the compounds dehalogenated by the coculture, nor dit it O-demethoxylate 5CV or vanillate. However, D. escambiense reduced 3CB, EBB, and benzoate to their respective benzyl alcohols. Reduction to alcohols required the presence of pyruvate, which was transformed to acetate, lactate, and succinate in the presence of absence of 3CB, 3BB, or benzoate. Alcohol formation did not occur in pyruvate-sulfate medium. Under these conditions, sulfate was preferentially reduced. Other electron donors that supported the growth of D. escambiense during sulfate reduction did not support benzoate reduction to benzyl alcohol.

Influence of sulfur oxyanions on reductive dehalogenation activities in Desulfomonile tiedjei

The inhibition of aryl reductive dehalogenation reactions by sulfur oxyanions has been demonstrated in environmental samples, dehalogenating enrichments, and the sulfate-reducing bacterium Desulfomonile tiedjei; however, this phenomenon is not well understood. We examined the effects of sulfate, sulfite, and thiosulfate on reductive dehalogenation in the model microorganism D. tiedjei and found separate mechanisms of inhibition due to these oxyanions under growth versus nongrowth conditions. Dehalogenation activity was greatly reduced in extracts of cells grown in the presence of both 3-chlorobenzoate, the substrate or inducer for the aryl dehalogenation activity, and either sulfate, sulfite, or thiosulfate, indicating that sulfur oxyanions repress the requisite enzymes. In extracts of fully induced cells, thiosulfate and sulfite, but not sulfate, were potent inhibitors of aryl dehalogenation activity even in membrane fractions lacking the cytoplasmically located sulfur oxyanion reductase. These results suggest that under growth conditions, sulfur oxyanions serve as preferred electron acceptors and negatively influence dehalogenation activity in D. tiedjei by regulating the amount of active aryl dehalogenase in cells. Additionally, in vitro inhibition by sulfur oxyanions is due to the interaction of the reactive species with enzymes involved in dehalogenation and need not involve competition between two respiratory processes for reducing equivalents. Sulfur oxyanions also inhibited tetrachloroethylene dehalogenation by the same mechanisms, further indicating that chloroethylenes are fortuitously dehalogenated by the aryl dehalogenase. The commonly observed inhibition of reductive dehalogenation reactions under sulfate-reducing conditions may be due to similar regulation mechanisms in other dehalogenating microorganisms that contain multiple respiratory activities.

Anaerobic dehalogenases

Several anaerobic bacteria are able to reductively dehalogenate chlorinated hydrocarbons and to couple this reaction to the synthesis of ATP via a chemiosmotic mechanism (dehalorespiration). A few reductive dehalogenases have recently been purified and characterized. Preliminary investigations have been performed to elucidate the mechanism of dehalorespiration.

Diverse mechanistic approaches to difficult chemical transformations: microbial dehalogenation of chlorinated aromatic compounds

Chlorinated aromatic compounds represent an important class of environmental pollutants. Microbial dehalogenases play a crucial role in the biodegradation of these compounds. The three major classes of aromatic dehalogenases are discussed in this minireview.

Anaerobic metabolism of aromatic compounds

Aromatic compounds comprise a wide variety of low-molecular-mass natural compounds (amino acids, quinones, flavonoids, etc.) and biopolymers (lignin, melanin). They are almost exclusively degraded by microorganisms. Aerobic aromatic metabolism is characterised by the extensive use of molecular oxygen. Monoxygenases and dioxygenases are essential for the hydroxylation and cleavage of aromatic ring structures. Accordingly, the characteristic central intermediates of the aerobic pathways (e.g. catechol) are readily attacked oxidatively. Anaerobic aromatic catabolism requires, of necessity, a quite different strategy. The basic features of this metabolism have emerged from studies on bacteria that degrade soluble aromatic substrates to CO2 in the complete absence of molecular oxygen. Essential to anaerobic aromatic metabolism is the replacement of all the oxygen-dependent steps by an alternative set of novel reactions and the formation of different central intermediates (e.g. benzoyl-CoA) for breaking the aromaticity and cleaving the ring; notably, in anaerobic pathways, the aromatic ring is reduced rather than oxidised. The two-electron reduction of benzoyl-CoA to a cyclic diene requires the cleavage of two molecules of ATP to ADP and P1 and is catalysed by benzoyl-CoA reductase. After nitrogenase, this is the second enzyme known which overcomes the high activation energy required for reduction of a chemically stable bond by coupling electron transfer to the hydrolysis of ATP. The alicyclic product cyclohex-1,5-diene-1-carboxyl-CoA is oxidised to acetyl-CoA via a modified beta-oxidation pathway; the ring structure is opened hydrolytically. Some phenolic compounds are anaerobically transformed to resorcinol (1,3-dihydroxybenzene) or phloroglucinol (1,3,5-trihydroxybenzene). These intermediates are also first reduced and then as alicyclic products oxidised to acetyl-CoA. This review gives an outline of the anaerobic pathways which allow bacteria to utilize aromatics even in the absence of oxygen. We focus on previously unknown reactions and on the enzymes characteristic for such novel metabolism.

Purification and characterization of tetrachloroethene reductive dehalogenase from Dehalospirillum multivorans

Tetrachloroethene reductive dehalogenase from the tetrachloroethene-utilizing anaerobe, Dehalospirillum multivorans, was purified approximately 100-fold to apparent homogeneity. The purified dehalogenase catalyzed the reductive dechlorination of tetrachloroethene (PCE) to trichloroethene and of trichloroethene to cis-1,2-dichloroethene with reduced methyl viologen as the electron donor at a specific activity of 2.6 microkatal/mg. The apparent Km values for tetrachloroethene and trichloroethene were 0.20 and 0.24 mM, respectively. The apparent molecular mass of the native enzyme was determined by gel filtration to be 58 kDa. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-gel electrophoresis revealed a single protein band with a molecular mass of 57 kDa. One mol of dehalogenase contained 1.0 mol of corrinoid, 9.8 mol of iron, and 8.0 mol of acid-labile sulfur. The pH optimum was about 8.0. The enzyme had a temperature optimum of 42 degrees C. It was slightly oxygen-sensitive and was thermolabile above 50 degrees C. The dechlorination of PCE was stimulated by ammonium ions. Chlorinated methanes severely inhibited PCE dehalogenase activity.

Biodegradation of chlorinated aliphatic compounds

During the past year, the range of environmentally relevant chlorinated aliphatic compounds known to serve as growth substrates for pure cultures of bacteria has been extended and novel reactions for the aerobic co-metabolic transformation of chloroaliphatics have been reported. The biochemistry of chloroaliphatics degradation in the new aerobic isolates is still unexplored, but progress has been made in understanding some of the anaerobic dehalogenation reactions.

NADPH-dependent reductive ortho dehalogenation of 2,4-dichlorobenzoic acid in Corynebacterium sepedonicum KZ-4 and Coryneform bacterium strainNTB-1 via 2,4-dichlorobenzoyl coenzyme A

Corynebacterium sepedonicum KZ-4, described earlier as a strain capable of growth on 2,4-dichlorobenzoate (G.M. Zaitsev and Y.N. Karasevich, Mikrobiologiya 54:356-369, 1985), is known to metabolize this substrate via 4-hydroxybenzoate and protocatechuate, and evidence consistent with an initial reductive dechlorination step to form 4-chlorobenzoate was found in another coryneform bacterium, strain NTB-1 (W.J.J. van den Tweel, J.B. Kok, and J.A.M. de Bont, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 53:810-815, 1987). 2-Chloro-4-fluorobenzoate was found to be converted stoichiometrically to 4-fluorobenzoate by resting cells of strain KZ-4, compatible with a reductive process. Experiments with cell extracts demonstrated that Mg - ATP and coenzyme A (CoA) were required to stimulate reductive dehalogenation, consistent with the intermediacy of 2-chloro-4-fluoro-benzoyl-CoA and 2,4-dichlorobenzoyl-CoA thioesters. 2,4-Dichlorobenzoyl-CoA was shown to be converted to 4-chlorobenzoyl-CoA in a novel NADPH-dependent reaction in extracts of both KZ-4 and NTB-1. In addition to the ligase and reductive dehalogenase activities, hydrolytic 4-chlorobenzoyl-CoA dehalogenase and thioesterase activities, 4-hydroxybenzoate 3-monooxygenase, and protocatechuate 3,4-dioxygenase activities were demonstrated to be present in the soluble fraction of KZ-4 extracts following ultracentrifugation. We propose that the pathway for 2,4-dichlorobenzoate catabolism in strains KZ-4 and NTB-1 involves formation of 2,4-dichlorobenzoyl-CoA, NADPH-dependent ortho dehalogenation yielding 4-chlorobenzoyl-CoA, hydrolytic removal of chlorine from the para position to generate 4-hydroxybenzoyl-CoA, hydrolysis to form 4-hydroxybenzoate, oxidation to yield protocatechuate, and oxidative ring cleavage.