Query: NC_010337:2339056 Heliobacterium modesticaldum Ice1, complete genome Lineage: Heliobacterium modesticaldum; Heliobacterium; Heliobacteriaceae; Clostridiales; Firmicutes; Bacteria General Information: Heliobacterium modesticaldum strain Ice1, the type strain of this species, was isolated from Icelandic hot spring volcanic soils. It grows optimally above 50 degrees Celsius, grows best photoheterotrophically, but can grow in the dark chemotrophically on pyruvate. Phototrophic thermophile. This organism is an anoxygenic phototroph isolated from hot spring microbial mats and volcanic soil. Cell wall structure, the ability to form endospores, and 16S ribosomal RNA analysis place Heliobacterium modesticaldum in a family of phototrophic bacteria related to the Clostridia. Heliobacterium modesticaldum is able to fix nitrogen and may contribute significantly to the nitrogen availability in microbial mats.
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General Information: This red-pigmented organism's name means "strange berry that withstands radiation", marking the fact that this organism is one of the most radiation-resistant known. It can tolerate radiation levels at 1000 times the levels that would kill a human and it was originally isolated in 1956 from a can of meat that had been irradiated with X-rays. The resistance to radiation may reflect its resistance to dessication, which also causes DNA damage. This organism may be of use in cleaning up toxic metals found at nuclear weapons production sites due to the radiation resistance. This bacterium is also a highly efficient transformer, and can readily take up exogenous DNA from the environment, which may also aid DNA repair. This organism carries multiple copies of many DNA repair genes, suggesting a robust system for dealing with DNA damage. The recombination system may rely on multiple copies of various repeat elements found throughout the genome.