DspA from Strongylocentrotus purpuratus: The first biochemically characterized haloalkane dehalogenase of non-microbial origin

• DspA from Strongylocentrotus purpuratus was expressed and characterized.
• DspA is the first experimentally confirmed eukaryotic haloalkane dehalogenase.
• The enzyme shows a preference for terminally brominated hydrocarbons.
• The enantioselectivity towards 2-bromobutane makes DspA attractive for biocatalysis.
• Other putative dehalogenases of eukaryotic origin were found by database searches.

Haloalkane dehalogenases are known as bacterial enzymes cleaving a carbon–halogen bond in halogenated compounds. Here we report the first biochemically characterized non-microbial haloalkane dehalogenase DspA from Strongylocentrotus purpuratus. The enzyme shows a preference for terminally brominated hydrocarbons and enantioselectivity towards β-brominated alkanes. Moreover, we identified other putative haloalkane dehalogenases of eukaryotic origin, representing targets for future experiments to discover dehalogenases with novel catalytic properties.

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