Identification and characterisation of an elusive bacterial enzyme system for chloromethane dehalogenation
Jasmin Bernhardt, Lukas K. R. Hofmann, Paul Klemm, Nicole Paczia, Olivier N. Lemaire, Stéphane Vuilleumier, Tristan Wagner, Julia M. Kurth · 2026
Read Identification and characterisation of an elusive bacterial enzyme system for chloromethane dehalogenation by Jasmin Bernhardt, Lukas K. R. Hofmann, Paul Klemm, Nicole Paczia, Olivier N. Lemaire, Stéphane Vuilleumier, Tristan Wagner, Julia M. Kurth (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13222342.txt.
Description
Jasmin Bernhardt and co-authors find the enzyme system a bacterium uses to feed on chloromethane, in a 2026 microbe study. Chloromethane is a toxic gas that damages stratospheric ozone, mostly from natural sources. The anaerobe Acetobacterium dehalogenans can live on it, yet its machinery had stayed hidden. Gene activity comparisons pointed to a cluster named cdmBCA.
Laboratory tests showed the system strips chlorine from chloromethane and related haloalkanes, unlike close relatives that attack methoxylated compounds. Structural imaging of one protein revealed a greasy channel guiding the gas toward its vitamin-based activator. Similar proteins appear across anaerobic microbes, suggesting a wider hidden role in the global chloromethane cycle.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Jasmin Bernhardt, Lukas K. R. Hofmann, Paul Klemm, Nicole Paczia, Olivier N. Lemaire, Stéphane Vuilleumier, Tristan Wagner, Julia M. Kurth |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 68 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |