Query: NC_006576:1435422 Synechococcus elongatus PCC 6301, complete genome
Lineage: Synechococcus elongatus; Synechococcus; Synechococcaceae; Chroococcales; Cyanobacteria; Bacteria
General Information: Freshwater organism. These unicellular cyanobacteria are also known as blue green algae and along with Prochlorococcus are responsible for a large part of the carbon fixation that occurs in marine environments. Synechococcus have a broader distribution in the ocean and are less abundant in oligotrophic (low nutrient) regions. These organism utilize photosystem I and II to capture light energy. They are highly adapted to marine environments and some strains have evolved unique motility systems in order to propel themselves towards areas that contain nitrogenous compounds. An obligate photoautotroph, it has been studied extensively by an international research community with respect to acquisition of organic carbon, transport and regulation of nitrogen compounds, adaptation to nutrient stresses, and reponse to light intensity.
Subject: NC_008525:664500 Pediococcus pentosaceus ATCC 25745, complete genome
Lineage: Pediococcus pentosaceus; Pediococcus; Lactobacillaceae; Lactobacillales; Firmicutes; Bacteria
General Information: Use in fermentation of food products. A distinctive characteristic of pediococci is their ability to form tetrads via cell division in two perpendicular directions in a single plane. Like other lactic acid bacteria, species of Pediococcus are acid tolerant, cannot synthesize porphyrins, and possess a strictly fermentative (homofermentative) facultatively anaerobic metabolism with lactic acid as the major metabolic end product. They also occur in such food products as cured meat, raw sausages, and marinated fish, and are are used for biotechnological processing and preservation of foods. This bacterium can be isolated from a variety of plant materials and bacterial-ripened cheeses. This organism is used as an acid producing starter culture in the fermentation of some sausages, cucumbers, green beans, soy milk, and silage. Some strains have been reported to contain several (3-5) resident plasmids that render the bacterium capable of fermenting some sugars (raffinose, melibiose, and sucrose), as well as producing bacteriocins.