D-Lactate dehydrogenase, the starting enzyme for carbon and energy metabolism in dissimilatory sulfate-reducing bacteria, has been purified 36-fold from the soluble fraction of the sonicate of Desulfovibrio vulgaris, Miyazaki. The enzyme is specific for D-lactate (Km = 0.8 mM) and DL-2-hydroxybutyrate (probably its D-isomer) as the electron donor substrate. It reduces, in the presence of lactate, various artificial electron acceptors such as 1-methoxyphenazinium methyl sulfate, ferricyanide, tetrazolium dyes, methylene blue, and 2,6-dichlorophenol-indophenol. When 2 mol of ferricyanide was reduced, 1 mol of pyruvate was produced during the reaction. Among natural electron carriers, only cytochrome c-553 isolated from the same organism can be reduced by the enzyme. The ferric complex of pyridine-2,6-dicarboxylate can act as an electron acceptor if cytochrome c-553 is present in the reaction system. NAD+, NADP+, FAD, FMN, cytochrome c3, high-molecular-weight cytochrome, eucaryotic cytochromes c (yeast and horse) and O2 could not be reduced. The enzyme does not have any diaphorase activity. The D-lactate dehydrogenase of D. vulgaris must therefore be named D-lactate:ferricytochrome c-553 oxidoreductase [EC subclass 1.1.2]. A similar enzyme exists in the formate dehydrogenase-less mutant of D. vulgaris, Miyazaki, and in D. vulgaris, Hildenborough.