Novel enzyme dehalogenates 1;2-dichloroethane

As a result of the widespread use of 1,2-dichloroethane (1,2-DCA), this solvent has become a common environmental contaminant. A research team from the lab of Danielle Daffonchio at the University of Studies in Milan has found unknown reductive dehalogenase enzyme that is specifically adapted to dechlorination of 1,2-DCA to ethylene. The enzyme was identified in the metagenome from a contaminated groundwater enrichment culture and isolated from the "Desulfitobacterium dichloroeliminans" strain DCA1. The researchers concluded that the newly discovered enzymes are specifically adapted to 1,2-DCA dechlorination.