Identification of the hcb Gene Operon Involved in Catalyzing Aerobic Hexachlorobenzene Dechlorination in Nocardioides sp. Strain PD653.

ABSTRACT: Nocardioides sp. strain PD653 was the first identified aerobic bacterium capable of mineralizing hexachlorobenzene (HCB). In this study, strain PD653-B2, which was unexpectedly isolated from a subculture of strain PD653, was found to lack the ability to transform HCB or pentachloronitrobenzene into pentachlorophenol. Comparative genome analysis of the two strains revealed that genetic rearrangement had occurred in strain PD653-B2, with a genomic region present in strain PD653 being deleted. In silico analysis allowed three open reading frames within this region to be identified as candidate genes involved in HCB dechlorination. Assays using recombinant Escherichia coli cells revealed that an operon is responsible for both oxidative HCB dechlorination and pentachloronit

SUBMITTER: Ito K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5601339 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature