Microbial dehalogenation

It is of major practical importance to define the limits of microbial abilities to degrade unusual xenobiotic halogenated compounds: if, indeed, there are any ultimate limits. A large number of commonly encountered microbes, such as Pseudomonas, Alcaligenes, Arthrobacter, Rhodococcus, Hyphomicrobium and many more genera, have the metabolic ability to dehalogenate a wide range of halogenated compounds. A range of different mechanisms have evolved to catabolise halogenated compounds. The following discussion characterises those systems which we have most confidence about, but there are clearly many novel systems awaiting full descriptions.