Bacteria Genomes - RALSTONIA EUTROPHA

Formerly known as Alcaligenes eutrophus, Ralstonia eutropha is a gram-negative, non-spore forming bacterium which thrives in the presence of millimolar concentrations of several heavy-metals including (Zinc, Cadmium, Cobalt,Lead,Mercury, Nickel and Chromium). It uses a variety of substrates as its carbon source or it can grow chemo-lithotropically using molecular hydrogen as the energy source and carbon dioxide as a carbon source. When nitrate is present Ralstonia eutropha can grow anaerobically.

Ralstonia eutropha JMP134 (and its catabolic plasmid, pJP4) is able to degrade an impressive list of chloroaromatic compounds and chemically-related pollutants. In addition to its potential for bioremediation, Ralstonia eutropha is a model organism for the study of microbial production of polyhydroxyalkanoates, and chemolithoautotrophic metabolism in aerobic heterotrophs. Polyhydroxyalkanoates are a broad type of biodegradable polymer that can be used for biodegradable plastics and are of growing importance in research and medical diagnostics.

Taking specific advantage of its lithoautotrophic capability with hydrogen utilized as energy source, the organism might be established as a cell factory in a future hydrogen-based biotechnology, e.g., for the production of isotopically labelled metabolites and polymers that R. eutropha serves as a model organism for genetics and control of autotrophic CO2 fixation, hydrogen oxidation and denitrification.

References:

http://genome.jgi-psf.org/draft_microbes/raleu/raleu.home.html
http://www.genomik.uni-goettingen.de/projects/c_projects_II.html
http://genome.bnl.gov/Sequencing/Rmetallidurans/