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Journal of Bacteriology, July 2009, p. 4534-4545, Vol. 191, No. 14
0021-9193/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.00504-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Genome Sequence of Azotobacter vinelandii, an Obligate Aerobe Specialized To Support Diverse Anaerobic Metabolic Processes ^,

João C. Setubal,^1,2* Patricia dos Santos,³ Barry S. Goldman,⁴ Helga Ertesvåg,⁵ Guadelupe Espin,⁶ Luis M. Rubio,⁷ Svein Valla,⁵ Nalvo F. Almeida,^1,8 Divya Balasubramanian,^9, Lindsey Cromes,^9, Leonardo Curatti,¹⁰ Zijin Du,⁴ Eric Godsy,⁴ Brad Goodner,⁹ Kaitlyn Hellner-Burris,⁹ José A. Hernandez,¹¹ Katherine Houmiel,¹² Juan Imperial,²⁰ Christina Kennedy,¹³ Timothy J. Larson,¹⁴ Phil Latreille,⁴ Lauren S. Ligon,^14,¶ Jing Lu,⁴ Mali Mærk,⁵ Nancy M. Miller,⁴ Stacie Norton,⁴ Ina P. O'Carroll,^14,|| Ian Paulsen,¹⁵ Estella C. Raulfs,¹⁴ Rebecca Roemer,⁹ James Rosser,^12,# Daniel Segura,⁶ Steve Slater,¹⁶ Shawn L. Stricklin,⁴ David J. Studholme,¹⁷ Jian Sun,^1, Carlos J. Viana,⁸ Erik Wallin,⁹ Baomin Wang,¹³ Cathy Wheeler,^9, Huijun Zhu,⁴ Dennis R. Dean,¹⁴ Ray Dixon,¹⁸ and Derek Wood^12,19

Virginia Bioinformatics Institute, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061,¹ Department of Computer Science, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061,² Department of Chemistry, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27109,³ Monsanto Company, St. Louis, Missouri,⁴ Department of Biotechnology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway,⁵ Instituto de Biotecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico,⁶ IMDEA Energia, Centro de Biotecnologia y Genomica de Plantas, Madrid 28223, Spain,⁷ Departmento de Computacao e Estatistica, Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso do Sul, Campo Grande, Brazil,⁸ Department of Biology, Hiram College, Ohio,⁹ CONICET-FIBA, Centro de Estudios de Biodiversidad y Biotecnologia, Mar del Plata 7600, Argentina,¹⁰ Department of Biochemistry, Midwestern University, Glendale, Arizona 85308,¹¹ Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, Washington 98026,¹² Department of Plant Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721,¹³ Department of Biochemistry, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061,¹⁴ Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia,¹⁵ Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin,¹⁶ The Sainsbury Laboratory, Colney Lane, Norwich NR4 7UH, United Kingdom,¹⁷ Department of Molecular Microbiology, John Innes Centre, Norwich NR4 7UH, United Kingdom,¹⁸ Department of Microbiology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98119,¹⁹ Centro de Biotecnologia y Genomica de Plantas (CBGP, UPM-INIA), Madrid 28223, Spain,²⁰

Received 11 April 2009/ Accepted 30 April 2009

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.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Virginia Bioinformatics Institute, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061. Phone: (540) 231-9464. Fax: (540) 231-2606. E-mail: setubal{at}vbi.vt.edu

Published ahead of print on 8 May 2009.

Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://jb.asm.org/.

Present address: Department of Microbiology, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL.

Present address: School of Veterinary Medicine, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.

^¶ Present address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7290.

^|| Present address: HIV Drug Resistance Program, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD.

^# Present address: School of Molecular Biosciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164.

Present address: La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology, La Jolla, CA 92037.

Present address: Department of Biology, John Carroll University, Cleveland, OH.

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Journal of Bacteriology, July 2009, p. 4534-4545, Vol. 191, No. 14
0021-9193/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.00504-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

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