Line 16: | Line 16: | ||
In the last three decades, there have been a number of patents and publications in the usage of several Rhodococcus strains as bioremediation and biotransformation agents. These gram-positive actinobacteria are commonly found in contaminated soils and toxic environments (Larkin et al., 2005). Along with the gram-negative Pseudomonas, they tolerate a range of organic solvents, exhibit unique enzymatic capabilities and have the ability to biodegrade several environmental pollutants. They have been used to bioremediate soil contaminated with hydrocarbons (Warhurst and Fewson, 1994), pesticides (Larkin et al., 2005), nitriles (Brandao and Bull, 2003) and xenobiotics (Martinkova et al., 2009). They have also been used to produce acrylamide (Hughes et al., 1998), triacylglycerols (Hernandez et al., 2008) and in fossil fuel desulfurization (Matsui et al., 2002). | In the last three decades, there have been a number of patents and publications in the usage of several Rhodococcus strains as bioremediation and biotransformation agents. These gram-positive actinobacteria are commonly found in contaminated soils and toxic environments (Larkin et al., 2005). Along with the gram-negative Pseudomonas, they tolerate a range of organic solvents, exhibit unique enzymatic capabilities and have the ability to biodegrade several environmental pollutants. They have been used to bioremediate soil contaminated with hydrocarbons (Warhurst and Fewson, 1994), pesticides (Larkin et al., 2005), nitriles (Brandao and Bull, 2003) and xenobiotics (Martinkova et al., 2009). They have also been used to produce acrylamide (Hughes et al., 1998), triacylglycerols (Hernandez et al., 2008) and in fossil fuel desulfurization (Matsui et al., 2002). | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p><b>Potential model industrial organism</b></p> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p> There are currently 58 different Rhodococcus species (reference list periodically updated at http://www.bacterio.net/rhodococcus.html) and based on 16S rRNA data (McMinn et al., 2000) they are classified into three main subclades: R. erythropolis, R. equi and R. rhodochrous. Of the R. erythropolis subclade, the three most characterised industrial species are R. erythropolis, R. opacus, and R. jostii (Goodfellow et al., 2012). R. erythropolis was the first characterised bacteria in this subclade while R. jostii was the first to have its genome sequenced (McLeod et al., 2006). R. opacus has the unique ability of accumulating up to 40% of its dry cell mass as triacylglycerols (Kurosawa et al., 2010). All three species catabolise a wide range of oligosaccharides and organic compounds, but R. erythropolis has two industrial advantages of tolerating a wider range of temperatures and possessing a significantly smaller genome, corresponding to faster growth rate. However, the larger genomes of R. jostii and R. opacus gives them the ability to metabolise a wider range of organic substances. | ||
+ | </p> | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
<p><b>ErmE Promoter Phytobrick</b></p> | <p><b>ErmE Promoter Phytobrick</b></p> |
Revision as of 22:27, 19 October 2016
-->