Cupriavidus metallidurans

Cupriavidus metallidurans
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Bacteria
Phylum:	Proteobacteria
Class:	Beta Proteobacteria
Order:	Burkholderiales
Family:	Burkholderiaceae
Genus:	Cupriavidus
Binomial name
Cupriavidus metallidurans Goris et al. 2001; Van Damme and Coenyne 2004

Cupriavidus metallidurans strain CH34, (renamed from Ralstonia metallidurans^[1] and previously known as Ralstonia eutropha and Alcaligenes eutrophus^[2]) is a non-spore-forming bacillus which is adapted to survive several forms of heavy metal stress.^[3][4] Therefore, it is an ideal subject to study heavy metal disturbance of cellular processes. This bacterium shows a unique combination of advantages not present in this form in other bacteria.

• Its genome has been fully sequenced (Preliminary, unnotated sequence data were obtained from the DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI)).
• It is non-pathogenic, therefore, models of the cell can also be tested in artificial environments similar to the natural habitats of this bacterium.
• It is related to the plant pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum.^[5]
• It is of ecological importance since related bacteria are predominant in mesophilic heavy metal-contaminated environments.^[2][6]
• It is of industrial importance and used for heavy metal remediation and sensing.^[4]
• It is an aerobic chemolithoautotroph, facultatively able to grow in a mineral salts medium in the presence of H₂, O₂ and CO₂ without an organic carbon source.^[7] The energy providing subsystem of the cell under these conditions is composed only of the hydrogenase, the respiratory chain and the F1F0-ATPase. This keeps this subsystem simple and clearly separated from the anabolic subsystems that starts with the Calvin cycle for CO₂-fixation.
• It is able to degrade xenobiotics even in the presence of high heavy metal concentrations.^[8]
• Finally, strain CH34 is adapted to the outlined harsh conditions by a multitude of heavy metal resistance systems that are encoded by the two indigenous megaplasmids pMOL28 and pMOL30 on the bacterial chromosome(s).^[3][4]

^[9]

Also it plays a vital role, together with the species Delftia acidovorans, in the formation of gold nuggets, by precipitating metallic gold from a solution of gold (III) tetrachloride, a compound highly toxic to most other microorganisms.^[10]

References

1. ^ Vandamme, P.; T. Coeyne (June 18, 2004). "Taxonomy of the genus Cupriavidus: a tale of lost and found". International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology 54 (Pt 6): 2285–2289. doi:10.1099/ijs.0.63247-0. PMID 15545472. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Goris, J., et al. (2001). "Classification of metal-resistant bacteria from industrial biotopes as Ralstonia campinensis sp. nov., Ralstonia metallidurans sp. nov. and Ralstonia basilensis Steinle et al. 1998 emend.". Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 51 (Pt 5): 1773–1782. doi:10.1099/00207713-51-5-1773. PMID 11594608. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Nies, DH (1999). "Microbial heavy metal resistance.". Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 51 (6): 730–750. doi:10.1007/s002530051457. PMID 10422221. 
4. ^ ^{a b c} Nies, DH (2000). "Heavy metal resistant bacteria as extremophiles: molecular physiology and biotechnological use of Ralstonia spec. CH34". Extremophiles 4 (2): 77–82. doi:10.1007/s007920050140. PMID 10805561. 
5. ^ Salanoubat M. et al. (2002). "Genome sequence of the plant pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum". Nature 415 (6871): 497–502. doi:10.1038/415497a. PMID 11823852. 
6. ^ Diels, L.; Q. Dong, D. van der Lelie, W. Baeyens, and M. Mergeay (1995). "The czc operon of Alcaligenes eutrophus CH34: from resistance mechanism to the removal of heavy metals". Journal of Industrial Microbiology 14 (2): 142–153. doi:10.1007/BF01569896. PMID 7766206. 
7. ^ Mergeay, M.; D. Nies, H.G. Schlegel, J. Gerits, P. Charles, and F. van Gijsegem (1985). "Alcaligenes eutrophus CH34 is a facultative chemolithotroph with plasmid-bound resistance to heavy metals". Journal of Bacteriology 162 (1): 328–334. PMC 218993. PMID 3884593. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=218993. 
8. ^ Springael, D.; L. Diels, L. Hooyberghs, S. Kreps and M. Mergeay (1993). "Construction and characterization of heavy metal resistant haloaromatic-degrading Alcaligenes eutrophus strains". Appl Environ Microbiol 59 (1): 334–339. PMC 202101. PMID 8439161. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=202101. 
9. ^ Monchy, S.; M.A. Benotmane, P. Janssen, T. Vallaeys, S. Taghavi, D. van der Lelie, and M. Mergeay (October 2007). "Plasmids pMOL28 and pMOL30 of Cupriavidus metallidurans are specialized in the maximal viable response to heavy metals". Journal of Bacteriology 189 (20): 7417–7425. doi:10.1128/JB.00375-07. PMC 2168447. PMID 17675385. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=2168447. 
10. ^ Reith, Frank; Stephen L. Rogers, D. C. McPhail, and Daryl Webb (July 14, 2006). "Biomineralization of Gold: Biofilms on Bacterioform Gold". Science 313 (5784): 233–236. doi:10.1126/science.1125878. PMID 16840703. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/313/5784/233. 

External links

• Article at Live Science