Query: NC_008686:50750 Paracoccus denitrificans PD1222 chromosome 1, complete sequence Lineage: Paracoccus denitrificans; Paracoccus; Rhodobacteraceae; Rhodobacterales; Proteobacteria; Bacteria General Information: This organism is commonly found in soil and sewage sludge. This organism is able to survive in both aerobic and anaerobic environments due to its ability to use both oxygen and nitrogenous oxides making it a popular model organism for the study of electron transfer and and energy conservation.
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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.