Glutathione is the reducing agent for the reductive dehalogenation of tetrachloro-p-hydroquinone by extracts from a Flavobacterium sp.

Tetrachloro-p-hydroquinone is the first intermediate during pentachlorophenol degradation by Flavobacterium sp. strain ATCC 39723, a strict aerobe. We report here that tetrachlorohydroquinone was reductively dehalogenated to 2,3,6-trichloro-p-hydroquinone and subsequently to 2,6-dichloro-p-hydroquinone under anaerobic conditions by the cell extract from Flavobacterium. The reducing agent was identified to be the reduced form of glutathione. This is the first time glutathione has been identified as the reducing agent for reductive dehalogenation.