Chlorinated alkanes are a class of organic chlorides that are widely used in a variety of industrial and agricultural productions, and have become common pollutants in the environment. 

The reductive dechlorination reaction mediated by organohalogen-respiring bacteria provides a major pathway for the biodegradation of organochlorine pollutants. 

Prof. Yang Yi, Prof. Yan Jun and doctoral student Jiang Lisi of the Institute of Applied Ecology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences recently finished a study exploring environment-friendly agents for the biodegradation of chlorinated pollutants. They collected polluted river sediments and established a 1,2-dichloroethane and 1,1,2-trichloroethane (1,2-DCA and 1,1,2-TCA) enrichment culture system.

In this culture system, the researchers isolated a new Geobacter strain, which can mediate the double dehalogenation reaction to dechlorinate 1,2-DCA and 1,1,2-TCA to monochloroethylene and harmless ethylene, respectively.

The strain was named by the researchers as Geobacter sp. strain IAE after the English abbreviation of the Institute of Applied Ecology (IAE).

The researchers found that Geobacter sp. strain IAE was highly similar to Geobacter lovleyi strain SZ and Geobacter lovleyi strain KB-1, two tetrachloroethylene-degradable strains that belong to the genus lovleyi. And they found that the new strain achieved the complete dechlorination of 1,1,2-TCA to ethylene through a synergistic action mechanism with Dehalococcoides.

The study entitled Geobacter sp. strain IAE dihaloeliminates 1,1,2-trichloroethane and 1,2-dichloroethane has been published in Environmental Science & Technology. The study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Liaoning Revitalization Talents Program, and the Key Research Program for Frontier Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.