Amorim, Catarina L.Moreira, Irina S.Henriques, Isabel S.Castro, Paula M.L.2018-06-122018-06-122017-10-18Amorim, C. L., Moreira, I. S., Henriques, I. S., Castro, P. M. L.. (2018). Insights into the genome of Labrys portucalensis F11 and Rhodococcus sp. FP1, versatile xenobiotic-degrading bacteria isolated from an industrial contaminated soil. BioMicroWorld 2017 - VII International Conference on Environmental, Industrial and applied Microbiology. 18-20 October, Madrid, Spain.http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/25047Oral communicationBacteria play an important role in the cleanup of contaminated sites due to their ability to degrade an impressive variety of xenobiotic compounds, using them as carbon and energy source. Two xenobiotic-degrading bacteria, namely Labrys portucalensis F11 and Rhodococcus sp. FP1, were previously isolated from industrially contaminated sediments collected at Estarreja, northern Portugal, which is known for its large industrial chemical complex (from the 1950s). Both strains have versatile catabolic routes for the bioconversion of several xenobiotic compounds including pharmaceuticals (e.g. fluoroquinolones [1], fluoxetine [2], diclofenac and estradiols (ongoing work)) and industrial and agro-chemical compounds (e.g. fluorobenzene [3], fluorophenol [4], fluoroanilines [5] and bisphenols (ongoing work)). The whole-genome sequencing and assembly of the two xenobiotic-degrading bacteria and further functional annotation using the Rapid Annotation using Subsystems Technology (RAST) server was carried out. Assembled genomes are composed of 7,952,755 bp (F11) and 9,630,728 bp (FP1) with GC contents of 63.5 and 67.2%, respectively. Moreover, the draft genome sequence of strain F11 contains 7406 predicted coding DNA sequences (CDSs) that were classified into 505 different subsystems, whereas FP1 contains 9094 CDSs distributed by 454 subsystems. On both cases, the most abundant systems are those involved in the metabolism of amino acid derivatives and carbohydrates. In addition, both genomes harbor genes for the metabolism of aromatic compounds with about 3.2 and 4.5% of the total encoding genes of F11 and FP1 related to that feature. Gene clusters likely encoding different peripheral pathways for the aromatic compounds degradation such as benzoate, quinate, toluene, byphenyl and choloaromatics were found. Moreover, catechol 1,2-dioxygenases, catechol 2,3-dioxygenase and protocatechuate 3,4-dioxygenases encoding genes of the central pathway in the metabolism of various aromatic compounds were also present. In silico and experimental analysis revealed that F11 and FP1 had versatile catabolic metabolism of various aromatic xenobiotics, hence being good candidates to recycle xenobiotic compounds back into natural biogeochemical cycles. These new insights could help devising strategies for bioaugmentation of environments polluted with xenobiotics. Keywords: Whole-genome sequencing; xenobiotic-degrading bacteria; Labrys portucalensis F11; Rhodococcus sp. FP1.engWhole genome sequencingBioremediationconference object