Abstract
Geobacter species are involved in electricity production, bioremediations, and various environmental friendly activities. Whole genome comparative analyses of Geobacter sulfurreducens PCA, Geobacter bemidjiensis Bem, Geobacter sp. FRC-32, Geobacter lovleyi SZ, Geobacter sp. M21, Geobacter metallireducens GS-15, Geobacter uraniireducens Rf4 have been made to find out similarities and dissimilarities among them. For whole genome comparison of Geobacter species, an in-house tool, Geobacter Comparative Genomics Tool (GCGT) has been developed using BLASTALL program, and these whole genome analyses yielded conserved genes and they are used for functional prediction. The conserved genes identified are about 2184 genes, and these genes are classified into 14 groups based on the pathway information. Functions for 74 hypothetical proteins have been predicted based on the conserved genes. The predicted functions include pilus type proteins, flagellar proteins, ABC transporters, and other proteins which are involved in electron transfer. A phylogenetic tree from 16S rRNA of seven Geobacter species showed that G. sulfurreducens PCA is closely related to G. metallireducens GS-15 and G. lovleyi SZ. For evolutionary study, acetate kinase protein is used, which showed closeness to Pelobacter propionicus, Pelobacter carbinolicus, and Deferribacteraceae family bacterial species. These results will be useful to enhance electricity production by using biotechnological approaches.
Highlights
Geobacter species have been placed in the Geobacteraceae family which falls under the δ-Proteobacteria class
The similarity was in the range of 80%, and the least similarity was found between G. sulfurreducens PCA and G. lovleyi SZ which was in the range of ∼60%
The other Geobacter genomes showed similarity with G. sulfurreducens PCA in the range of 65–70%. These data were used for the functional annotation of hypothetical genes in G. sulfurreducens PCA which is used as a reference organism in the comparative analysis
Summary
Geobacter species have been placed in the Geobacteraceae family which falls under the δ-Proteobacteria class. They are found in abundance where Fe(III) reduction is important, and these reductions play an important role in bioremediation [1]. These species have the ability to transfer electrons directly to electrodes or metals without any electron mediators and as a result they produce electricity or precipitate soluble metals [2, 3]. Geobacter species which are a strictly anaerobic organism proved to be having the ability to grow in low oxygen concentrations, and this has effects on this organism’s growth in the subsurface environment [6]
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