Volunteer: Elena Perrin
Elena Perrin is from Florence in Italy. She gained her PhD in Genetic and Microbiology and Bioinformatics sciences in 2014 at the University of Florence. Actually, she is a Post-doc researcher at the Department of Biology of the University of Florence. Her research work is mainly focused on antibiotic resistance associated with RND efflux pumps in Burkholderia cepacia complex species, a group of pathogens that can cause lethal infections in Cystic Fibrosis patients. Recently, she started to work also on bacteria isolated from Antarctica.
Twitter: @Elena_Perrin_84
Anaerobic Biological Dehalogenation
FEMS Microbiology Ecology is proud to present this latest thematic issue on Anaerobic Biological Dehalogenation. Knowledge on anaerobic microbial dehalogenation has advanced significantly since its first discovery. Understanding of the biochemistry, physiology and ecology of organohalide-respiring bacteria (OHRB) has allowed development of bioremediation technologies for clean-up of contaminated sites. At the same time, a fundamental understanding of the processes, enzymes and organisms involved has allowed to discover new exciting features in biochemistry and microbiology. OHRB are either members of novel bacterial genera or already known ones with other metabolic features indicating the importance of horizontal gene transfer in this anaerobic respiration process. Reductive dehalogenases, thus far discovered, are all corrinoid-containing enzymes revealing unexpected biochemical features of this cofactor normally known to be involved in alkyl-transfer reactions. This special thematic issue shows nicely that there remains still a lot to be discovered regarding anaerobic biological dehalogenation.