D. lykanthroporepellens has a prophage region containing 45 hypothetic proteins, which accounts for roughly 4% of the chromosome. An additional ~4.3% of the genome of D. lykanthroporepellens is made up of insertion sequence elements, which encode for 74 full or truncated transposases. Thus, horizontal gene transfer appears to be a potential mechanism for the adaptation of D. lykanthroporepellens to its ecological niche. Application in bioremediation Polychlorinated aliphatic C2 and C3 alkanes (ethanes and propanes with at least two chlorine substituents) are industrially important chemical intermediates globally produced on a massive scale. Due to spills and past inappropriate disposal methods, these chlorinated compounds are prevalent groundwater and soil contaminants throughout the US and around the world. Bioremediation approaches that rely on the action of anaerobic, reductively-dehalogenating bacteria, such as D. lykanthroporepellens, have shown great promise for clean-up of chlorinated solvent-contaminated soil and groundwater. Using qPCR (quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction), 16S rRNA gene sequences for Dehalogenimonas strains have been found to be at concentrations as high as 106 copies/ml of groundwater contaminated with high concentrations of chlorinated solvents and comprise up to nearly 19% of the total bacterial 16S rRNA gene copies. The characterization of D. lykanthroporepellens has aided in remediation plans through better understanding of the overall process of reductive dehalogenation of chlorinated compounds present in groundwater and the diversity of organisms involved. Due to its close relationship to Dehalococcoides spp., D. lykanthroporepellens was found to be amplified by primers that at one time were believed to be specific to targeting Dehalococcoides spp. Differentiation between the presence of Dehalococcoides spp. and D. lykanthroporepellens is important for remediation planning because D. lykanthroporepellens dehalogenates polychlorinated alkanes, but is unable to dehalogenate chlorinated ethenes like Dehalococcoides spp. Furthermore, D. lykanthroporepellens was the first pure culture isolated which could dehalogenate 1,2,3-trichloropropane (1,2,3-TCP) under anaerobic conditions. D. lykanthroporepellens has also been shown to dehalogenate 1,2-dichloroethane (1,2-DCA), 1,2-dichloropropane (1,2-DCP), and 1,1,2-trichloroethane (1,1,2-TCA) present in mixtures and at concentrations as high as 8.7, 4.0, and 3.8 mM respectively. These findings are important because a large number of contaminated sites contain mixtures of various chlorinated solvents and/or high concentrations. References External links Type strain of Dehalogenimonas lykanthroporepellens at BacDive - the Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase Bioremediation Gram-negative bacteria Bacteria described in 2009 Dehalococcoidetes