Deinococcus radiodurans

A Microbial Biorealm page on the genus Deinococcus radiodurans

Classification

Higher order taxa

Bacteria; Deinococcus-Thermus; Deinococci; Deinococcales; Deinococcaceae; Deinococcus

Species

NCBI: Taxonomy Genome

D. radiodurans, D. radiodurans R1

Genome structure

The genome of D. radiodurans consists of four major parts. The complete sequence of the R1 strain has 3,284,156 base pairs made up of two circular chromosomes (2,648,638 and 412,348 base pairs), a major plasmid (177,466 base pairs), and a small plasmid (45,704 base pairs). No current research shows whether or not these plasmids contribute specifically to functionality or virality. However, it is known that multiple copies of each gene are found on all the chromosomes and plasmids, which most likely contributes to its amazing repair capabilities associated with its radiation resistance.

References

White, O. et al. Genome sequence of the radioresistant bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans R1. Science 286, 1571-1577 (November 19, 1999).

Cox, M., Battista, John. Deinococcus radiodurans — The Consumate Survivor. Nature Reviews Microbiology 3, 882-892 (November 2005).

Edited by Edwin Cook, student of Rachel Larsen and Kit Pogliano