Genome sequence of Azotobacter vinelandii, an obligate aerobe specialized to support diverse anaerobic metabolic processes.
Azotobacter vinelandii is a soil bacterium related to the Pseudomonas genus that fixes nitrogen under aerobic conditions while simultaneously protecting nitrogenase from oxygen damage. In response to carbon availability, this organism undergoes a simple differentiation process to form cysts that are resistant to drought and other physical and chemical agents. Here we report the complete genome sequence of A. vinelandii DJ, which has a single circular genome of 5,365,318 bp. In order to reconcile an obligate aerobic lifestyle with exquisitely oxygen-sensitive processes, A. vinelandii is specialized in terms of its complement of respiratory proteins. It is able to produce alginate, a polymer that further protects the organism from excess exogenous oxygen, and it has multiple duplications of alginate modification genes, which may alter alginate composition in response to oxygen availability. The genome analysis identified the chromosomal locations of the genes coding for the three known oxygen-sensitive nitrogenases, as well as genes coding for other oxygen-sensitive enzymes, such as carbon monoxide dehydrogenase and formate dehydrogenase. These findings offer new prospects for the wider application of A. vinelandii as a host for the production and characterization of oxygen-sensitive proteins.
Virginia Bioinformatics Institute, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. setubal@vbi.vt.edu
João C
JC
Setubal
Patricia
P
dos Santos
Barry S
BS
Goldman
Helga
H
Ertesvåg
Guadelupe
G
Espin
Luis M
LM
Rubio
Svein
S
Valla
Nalvo F
NF
Almeida
Divya
D
Balasubramanian
Lindsey
L
Cromes
Leonardo
L
Curatti
Zijin
Z
Du
Eric
E
Godsy
Brad
B
Goodner
Kaitlyn
K
Hellner-Burris
José A
JA
Hernandez
Katherine
K
Houmiel
Juan
J
Imperial
Christina
C
Kennedy
Timothy J
TJ
Larson
Phil
P
Latreille
Lauren S
LS
Ligon
Jing
J
Lu
Mali
M
Maerk
Nancy M
NM
Miller
Stacie
S
Norton
Ina P
IP
O'Carroll
Ian
I
Paulsen
Estella C
EC
Raulfs
Rebecca
R
Roemer
James
J
Rosser
Daniel
D
Segura
Steve
S
Slater
Shawn L
SL
Stricklin
David J
DJ
Studholme
Jian
J
Sun
Carlos J
CJ
Viana
Erik
E
Wallin
Baomin
B
Wang
Cathy
C
Wheeler
Huijun
H
Zhu
Dennis R
DR
Dean
Ray
R
Dixon
Derek
D
Wood
D016948:Azotobacter vinelandii / Q000235:genetics*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics*; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D008660:Metabolism / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial