Dehalogenation of dichloromethane by cell extracts of hyphomicrobium DM2

A facultatively methylotrophic bacterium was isolated from enrichment cultures containing dichloromethane as the sole carbon source. It was identified as a Hyphomicrobium species. The organism grew exponentially in batch cultures with 10 mM dichloromethane at a specific growth rate of 0.07 h^-1. The release of Cl^- from dichloromethane and the disapperance of substrate paralleled growth. Resting dichloromethane-grown cells, in the presence of potassium sulphite as a trapping agent, converted cichloromethane methane quantitatively to formaldehyde. The conversion of dichloromethane to formaldehyde by cell extracts was stricly dependent on glutathione. Other thiols were inactive. Glutathione was not consumed in the course of the reaction. The specific activity of the enzymic dehalogenation of dichloromethane amounted to 3.8 mkat/kg protein in extracts of dichloromethane-grown cells and to less than 0.1 mkat/kg protein in extracts from cells grown on methanol.