Sustainable B₁₂-Dependent Dehalogenation of Organohalides in E. coli

Microbial bioremediation can provide an environmentally friendly and scalable solution to treat contaminated soil and water. However, microbes have yet to optimize pathways for degrading persistent anthropogenic pollutants, in particular organohalides. In this work, we first expand our repertoire of enzymes useful for bioremediation. By screening a panel of cobalamin (B₁₂)-dependent reductive dehalogenases, we identified previously unreported enzymes that dechlorinate perchloroethene and regioselectively deiodinate the thyroidal disruptor 2,4,6-triiodophenol. One deiodinase, encoded by the animal-associated anaerobe Clostridioides difficile, was demonstrated to dehalogenate the naturally occurring metabolites L-halotyrosines. In cells, several combinations of ferredoxin oxidoreductase and flavodoxin extract and transfer low-potential electrons from pyruvate to drive reductive dehalogenation without artificial reductants and mediators. This work provides new insights into a relatively understudied family of B₁₂-dependent enzymes and sets the stage for engineering synthetic pathways for degrading unnatural small molecule pollutants.