Iodine is an essential micronutrient for humans, where it is required for incorporation into the thyroid hormone thyroxine. Organoiodine compounds are not as widely used in industry as their chlorinated and fluorinated counterparts, but triiodinated aromatic compounds are commonly used as X-ray contrast agents by radiologists. More than 90 biogenic organoiodine compounds have been discovered (reviewed by Gribble, 2003), including methyl iodide (Amachi et al, 2001). Partial aerobic deiodination of triiodinated benzoates by the white rot fungus Trametes versicolor has been described (Rode and Muller, 1998). Bacterial strains of the genus Desulfitobacterium were able to completely deiodinate 5-amino-2,4,6-triiodoisphthalic acid under anaerobic conditions (Lecouturier et al, 2002).

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