Microbes belonging to the Shewanella genus are used in bioremediation of contaminated areas in the environment. A team of researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Michigan State University and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory analyzed the gene sequences, the proteins expressed and the physiology of 10 strains of Shewanella. Many Shewanella microbes have the ability to uptake certain metals and compounds and reduce them to an altered, much less toxic state. This makes Shewanella very important for the bioremediation and the environment. However, selecting the best strain for a particular project has been a challenge.rnBy comparing the 10 Shewanella genomes, the research team found that some strains shared 98% of the same genes, others only 70%. Out of the in the 10 strains, nearly half of the almost 10 000 protein-coding genes were strain-specific. In addition, the differences in expressed proteins were consistently larger than their differences at the gene content level.
展开▼
