The L-2-haloacid dehalogenase from the 1,2-dichloroethane degrading bacterium Xanthobacter autotrophicus GJ10 catalyzes the hydrolytic dehalogenation of small L-2-haloalkanoic acids to yield the corresponding D-2-hydroxyalkanoic acids. Its crystal structure was solved by the method of multiple isomorphous replacement with incorporation of anomalous scattering information and solvent flattening, and was refined at 1.95-Å resolution to an R factor of 21.3%. The three-dimensional structure is similar to that of the homologous L-2-haloacid dehalogenase from Pseudomonas sp. YL (1), but the X. autotrophicus enzyme has an extra dimerization domain, an active site cavity that is completely shielded from the solvent, and a different orientation of several catalytically important amino acid residues. Moreover, under the conditions used, a formate ion is bound in the active site. The position of this substrate-analogue provides valuable information on the reaction mechanism and explains the limited substrate specificity of the Xanthobacter L-2-haloacid dehalogenase.The bacterium Xanthobacter autotrophicus is capable of growing on short-chain haloalkanes as its sole source of carbon and energy (2). Its natural substrate 1,2-dichloroethane is degraded via 2-chloroethanol, chloroacetaldehyde, and chloroacetate to glycolate in four successive enzymatic reactions before it enters the organism's central metabolic routes. Brominated compounds can also be processed in this way. Two different dehalogenases are used to cleave off the halogen atoms in the first and fourth step. In the first step, a haloalkane dehalogenase catalyzes the conversion of 1,2-dichloroethane into 2-chloroethanol and chloride. The three-dimensional structure (3) and catalytic mechanism (4) of this enzyme have been elucidated by x-ray crystallography.In the fourth degradation step, a 2-haloacid dehalogenase catalyzes the conversion of chloroacetate to glycolate and chloride. Over 20 different 2-haloacid dehalogenases (EC 3.8.1.2) have been found in various bacteria (5). They have been grouped into four different classes according to their substrate specificity and stereospecific action on 2-monochloropropionic acid: two classes of enzymes that are active with only the L-or D-substrate, yielding products with inversion of configuration at the chiral C-2 carbon atom. The two other classes act on both stereo-isomers, one with inversion of configuration, the other with retention. High amino acid sequence identities are observed among the dehalogenases within any of the separate classes (6, 7), but no homology is evident between the 2-haloacid dehalogenases from different classes.The 2-haloacid dehalogenase from X. autotrophicus belongs to the class of L-specific dehalogenases that act with inversion of configuration (L-DEXs).1 The dhlB gene encoding for it was cloned and sequenced, and the enzyme (DhlB) has been purified and characterized (8). The protein consists of a single polypeptide chain of 253 amino acids and has a molecular mass of 27,431 Da. The amino ac...