title: Genome-centric evaluation ofBurkholderiasp. strain SRS-W-2-2016 resistant to high concentrations of uranium and nickel isolated from the Savannah River Site (SRS), USA.
abstract: Savannah River Site (SRS), an approximately 800-km2former nuclear weapons production facility located near Aiken, SC remains co-contaminated by heavy metals and radionuclides. To gain a better understanding on microbially-mediated bioremediation mechanisms, several bacterial strains resistant to high concentrations of Uranium (U) and Nickel (Ni) were isolated from the Steeds Pond soils located within the SRS site. One of the isolated strains, designated as strain SRS-W-2-2016, grew robustly on both U and Ni. To fully understand the arsenal of metabolic functions possessed by this strain, a draft whole genome sequence (WGS) was obtained, assembled, annotated and analyzed. Genome-centric evaluation revealed the isolate to belong to theBurkholderiagenus with close affiliation toB.xenovoransLB400, an aggressive polychlorinated biphenyl-degrader. At a coverage of 90 ×, the genome of strain SRS-W-2-2016 consisted of 8,035,584 bases with a total number of 7071 putative genes assembling into 191 contigs with an N50 contig length of 134,675 bases. Several gene homologues coding for resistance to heavy metals/radionuclides were identified in strain SRS-W-2-2016, such as a suite of outer membrane efflux pump proteins similar to nickel/cobalt transporter regulators, peptide/nickel transport substrate and ATP-binding proteins, permease proteins, and a high-affinity nickel-transport protein. Also noteworthy were two separate gene fragments in strain SRS-W-2-2016 homologous to thespoTgene; recently correlated with bacterial tolerance to U. Additionally, a plethora of oxygenase genes were also identified in the isolate, potentially involved in the breakdown of organic compounds facilitating the strain's successful colonization and survival in the SRS co-contaminated soils. The WGS project ofBurkholderiasp. strain SRS-W-2-2016 is available at DDBJ/ENA/GenBank under the accession #MSDV00000000.
authors.affiliation: Environmental Biotechnology and Genomics Laboratory, School of the Environment, 1515 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Suite 305B, FSH Science Research Center, Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, FL 32307, USA.
authors.forename: Ashish
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pathak
authors.affiliation: Environmental Biotechnology and Genomics Laboratory, School of the Environment, 1515 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Suite 305B, FSH Science Research Center, Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, FL 32307, USA.
authors.forename: Ashvini
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chauhan
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G2P5, Canada.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Stothard
authors.affiliation: DNA Services Facility, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Green
authors.affiliation: DNA Services Facility, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maienschein-Cline
authors.affiliation: Environmental Biotechnology and Genomics Laboratory, School of the Environment, 1515 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Suite 305B, FSH Science Research Center, Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, FL 32307, USA.
authors.forename: Rajneesh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jaswal
authors.affiliation: Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia, Aiken, SC 29802, USA.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Seaman
keywords: Biomineralization; Burkholderia; Metal resistance genes; Uranium, nickel; Whole genome sequencing (WGS)