title: Genomic and phenotypic characterization of the species Acinetobacter venetianus.
abstract: Crude oil is a complex mixture of hydrocarbons and other organic compounds that can produce serious environmental problems and whose removal is highly demanding in terms of human and technological resources. The potential use of microbes as bioremediation agents is one of the most promising fields in this area. Members of the species Acinetobacter venetianus have been previously characterized for their capability to degrade n-alkanes and thus may represent interesting model systems to implement this process. Although a preliminary experimental characterization of the overall hydrocarbon degradation capability has been performed for five of them, to date, the genetic/genomic features underlying such molecular processes have not been identified. Here we have integrated genomic and phenotypic information for six A. venetianus strains, i.e. VE-C3, RAG-1(T), LUH 13518, LUH 7437, LUH 5627 and LUH 8758. Besides providing a thorough description of the A. venetianus species, these data were exploited to infer the genetic features (presence/absence patterns of genes) and the short-term evolutionary events possibly responsible for the variability in n-alkane degradation efficiency of these strains, including the mechanisms of interaction with the fuel droplet and the subsequent catabolism of this pollutant.
authors.affiliation: Dep. of Biology, ComBo, Florence Computational Biology Group, University of Florence, I-50019 Sesto F.no, Italy.|Dep. of Biology, LEMM, Laboratory of Microbial and Molecular Evolution Florence, University of Florence, I-50019 Sesto F.no, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fondi
authors.affiliation: Dep. of Biology, ComBo, Florence Computational Biology Group, University of Florence, I-50019 Sesto F.no, Italy.
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Maida
authors.affiliation: Dep. of Biology, ComBo, Florence Computational Biology Group, University of Florence, I-50019 Sesto F.no, Italy.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Perrin
authors.affiliation: Dep. of Biology, ComBo, Florence Computational Biology Group, University of Florence, I-50019 Sesto F.no, Italy.|Dep. of Biology, LEMM, Laboratory of Microbial and Molecular Evolution Florence, University of Florence, I-50019 Sesto F.no, Italy.|Dep. of Clinical and Experimental Biomedical Science "Mario Serio", University of Florence, Viale Pieraccini, 6, I-50139 Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Valerio
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Orlandini
authors.affiliation: Dep. of Biology, ComBo, Florence Computational Biology Group, University of Florence, I-50019 Sesto F.no, Italy.|Dep. of Biology, LEMM, Laboratory of Microbial and Molecular Evolution Florence, University of Florence, I-50019 Sesto F.no, Italy.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: La Torre
authors.affiliation: Dep. of Biology, ComBo, Florence Computational Biology Group, University of Florence, I-50019 Sesto F.no, Italy.|Dep. of Biology, LEMM, Laboratory of Microbial and Molecular Evolution Florence, University of Florence, I-50019 Sesto F.no, Italy.
authors.forename: Emanuele
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bosi
authors.affiliation: Dep. of Civil, Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering (DICAM), University of Bologna, I-40131 Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Negroni
authors.affiliation: Dep. of Civil, Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering (DICAM), University of Bologna, I-40131 Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Giulio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zanaroli
authors.affiliation: Dep. of Civil, Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering (DICAM), University of Bologna, I-40131 Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fava
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze delle Produzioni Agroalimentari e dell'Ambiente (DISPAA), University of Florence, P.le delle Cascine, 24, Florence, 50144, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Decorosi
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze delle Produzioni Agroalimentari e dell'Ambiente (DISPAA), University of Florence, P.le delle Cascine, 24, Florence, 50144, Italy.
authors.forename: Luciana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Giovannetti
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze delle Produzioni Agroalimentari e dell'Ambiente (DISPAA), University of Florence, P.le delle Cascine, 24, Florence, 50144, Italy.
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Viti
authors.affiliation: Laboratory Bacteriology Research, Faculty Medicine &Health Sciences, University of Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vaneechoutte
authors.affiliation: Dep. of Infectious Diseases, Leiden University Medical Center, PO Box 9600, 2300 RC, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Lenie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dijkshoorn
authors.affiliation: Dep. of Biology, ComBo, Florence Computational Biology Group, University of Florence, I-50019 Sesto F.no, Italy.|Dep. of Biology, LEMM, Laboratory of Microbial and Molecular Evolution Florence, University of Florence, I-50019 Sesto F.no, Italy.
authors.forename: Renato
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fani
mesh_terms: D000150:Acinetobacter / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D000473:Alkanes / Q000378:metabolism*; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D059646:Genome Size; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D006868:Hydrolysis; D046228:Microarray Analysis; D005810:Multigene Family; D009876:Operon; D010578:Petroleum / Q000378:metabolism*; D010641:Phenotype; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D000473:Alkanes; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D010578:Petroleum