The genome sequence sheds new light on the biochemical pathways by which the bacterium "reduces" and precipitates chromium, uranium and other toxic metals. The research offers what scientists call "a starting point" for defining the organism's electron transport systems and metal-ion reducing capabilities.
In the course of the sequencing project, scientists also discovered a new bacterial phage (a virus that infects bacteria) that may provide a wedge for possible genetic manipulation of Shewanella to target it for specific bioremediation projects.
"This is a very important model organism for bioremediation research because of its unusual capacities to remove environmental pollutants under diverse conditions," said John F. Heidelberg, a TIGR assistant investigator. "Shewanella is the first microbe we have sequenced that can function for metal bioremediation and also survive in both aerobic and oxygen-free environments."
Heidelberg is the first author of the S. oneidensis genome paper, which was posted online this week by Nature Biotechnology and will appear in the journal's November issue. In addition to fellow scientists at TIGR, Heidelberg's collaborators included Kenneth H. Nealson of the University of Southern California; Eric J. Gaidos of the University of Hawaii; Terry Meyer of the University of Arizona; Alexandre Tsapin of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory; and James Scott of the Carnegie Institution of Washington.
The genome project --supported by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research through its Natural and Accelerated Bioremediation Research and Microbial Genome programs -- is expected to provide a boost
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Contact: Robert Koenig
rkoenig@tigr.org
301-838-5880
The Institute for Genomic Research
7-Oct-2002