{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"institution":[{"name":"bioRxiv"}],"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,16]],"date-time":"2026-07-16T03:09:30Z","timestamp":1784171370425,"version":"3.55.0"},"posted":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,23]]},"group-title":"Microbiology","reference-count":23,"publisher":"openRxiv","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,23]],"date-time":"2026-01-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1769126400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100013316","name":"Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["ER20-1541"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ER20-1541"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100013316","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"name":"National Science Foundation","award":["1931941"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["1931941"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000066","name":"National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["1R01ES032668-01"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["1R01ES032668-01"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000066","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,23]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>\n                  Chlorinated per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (Cl-PFAS) represent an important subgroup in replacement chemicals for legacy PFAS, and they have been detected in various environments including water bodies, soil, as well as air particles. However, the biodegradability of these chemicals is largely unknown. A recent study reported dechlorination triggered anaerobic biodefluorination of Cl-PFCAs by activated sludge communities. In this study, we further investigated the biodefluorination of Cl-PFCAs by pure cultures. Six of ten selected Cl-PFCAs displayed significant defluorination by\n                  <jats:italic>Acetobacterium bakii<\/jats:italic>\n                  , and corresponding pathways were proposed according to transformation product analysis. Several additional\n                  <jats:italic>Acetobacterium<\/jats:italic>\n                  species were all capable of defluorinating 3,5,7,8-tetrachloro-2,2,3,4,4,5,6,6,7,8,8- undecafluorooctanoic acid (CTFE4) with &gt;50% removal of organic fluorine. On the contrary,\n                  <jats:italic>Clostridium homopropionicum<\/jats:italic>\n                  cannot defluorinate CTFE4. Crude protein extraction experiment showed that the enzymes responsible for CTFE4 dechlorination and defluorination required anaerobic atmosphere to function. Differential gene expression was analyzed according to RNA sequencing analysis, and the results indicated vitamin B12 related enzymes may involve in CTFE4 dechlorination.\n                <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.64898\/2026.01.23.701208","type":"posted-content","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,23]],"date-time":"2026-01-23T22:05:49Z","timestamp":1769205949000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Biotransformation and biodefluorination of chlorinated polyfluorocarboxylic acids by\n                  <i>Acetobacterium<\/i>\n                  species"],"prefix":"10.64898","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7867-0168","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Shun","family":"Che","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Riverside, California, 92521, United States"},{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Chemical Safety, SINOPEC Research Institute of Safety Engineering Co., Ltd., Qingdao 266071, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9231-6026","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yaochun","family":"Yu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Riverside, California, 92521, United States"},{"name":"Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, 473 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA 94305, United States"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Weiyang","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Riverside, California, 92521, United States"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9811-3828","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yujie","family":"Men","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Riverside, California, 92521, United States"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"54368","reference":[{"key":"2026020503371199000_2026.01.23.701208v1.1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/science.abg9065"},{"issue":"5","key":"2026020503371199000_2026.01.23.701208v1.2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3325","DOI":"10.1021\/acs.est.8b00599","article-title":"A never-ending story of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs)?","volume":"52","year":"2018","journal-title":"Environ. 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