Draft genome sequence and characterization of Desulfitobacterium hafniense PCE-S

This genome report describes the draft genome and the physiological characteristics of Desulfitobacterium hafniense PCE-S, a Gram-positive bacterium known to dechlorinate tetrachloroethene (PCE) to dichloroethene by a PCE reductive dehalogenase. The draft genome has a size of 5,666,696 bp with a G + C content of 47.3%. The genome is very similar to the already sequenced Desulfitobacterium hafniense Y51 and the type strain DCB-2. We identified two complete reductive dehalogenase (rdh) genes in the genome of D. hafniense PCE-S, one of which encodes PceA, the PCE reductive dehalogenase, and is located on a transposon. Interestingly, this transposon structure differs from the PceA-containing transposon of D. hafniense Y51. The second rdh encodes an unknown reductive dehalogenase, highly similar to rdhA 7 found in D. hafniense DCB-2, in which the corresponding gene is disrupted. This reductive dehalogenase might be responsible for the reductive dechlorination of 2,4,5-trichlorophenol and pentachlorophenol, which is mediated by D. hafniense PCE-S in addition to the reductive dechlorination of PCE.