Insights into Ongoing Evolution of the Hexachlorocyclohexane Catabolic Pathway from Comparative Genomics of Ten Sphingomonadaceae Strains.

ABSTRACT: Hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH), a synthetic organochloride, was first used as a broad-acre insecticide in the 1940s, and many HCH-degrading bacterial strains have been isolated from around the globe during the last 20 years. To date, the same degradation pathway (the lin pathway) has been implicated in all strains characterized, although the pathway has only been characterized intensively in two strains and for only a single HCH isomer. To further elucidate the evolution of the lin pathway, we have biochemically and genetically characterized three HCH-degrading strains from the Czech Republic and compared the genomes of these and seven other HCH-degrading bacterial strains. The three new strains each yielded a distinct set of metabolites during their degradation of HCH isomers. Variable assem

SUBMITTER: Pearce SL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4478539 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature