Query: NC_008726:3968222 Mycobacterium vanbaalenii PYR-1, complete genome
Lineage: Mycobacterium vanbaalenii; Mycobacterium; Mycobacteriaceae; Actinomycetales; Actinobacteria; Bacteria
General Information: Isolated from contaminated sites exposed to petrogenic chemicals in the watershed of Redfish Bay, Texas, USA in 1986. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-degrading bacterium. Mycobacterium vanbaalenii is a fast-growing soil mycobacterium which can degrade polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons such as fluoranthene, pyrene, phenanthrene. This organism may be useful for bioremediation.
Subject: NC_001263:243000 Deinococcus radiodurans R1 chromosome 1, complete sequence
Lineage: Deinococcus radiodurans; Deinococcus; Deinococcaceae; Deinococcales; Deinococcus-Thermus; Bacteria
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.