Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts,¹ Biology Department, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida,² Departments of Biology and Microbiology & Immunology, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky,³ Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California,⁴ Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California,⁵ Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee,⁶ Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois,⁷ Leibniz-Institut für Meereswissenschaften, Kiel, Germany,⁸ Mathematics and Computer Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois,⁹ The Institute for Genomic Research, Rockville, Maryland,¹⁰ Institute of Molecular Biosciences, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany,¹¹

Received 8 August 2007/ Accepted 25 November 2007

Sulfur-oxidizing epsilonproteobacteria are common in a variety of sulfidogenic environments. These autotrophic and mixotrophic sulfur-oxidizing bacteria are believed to contribute substantially to the oxidative portion of the global sulfur cycle. In order to better understand the ecology and roles of sulfur-oxidizing epsilonproteobacteria, in particular those of the widespread genus Sulfurimonas, in biogeochemical cycles, the genome of Sulfurimonas denitrificans DSM1251 was sequenced. This genome has many features, including a larger size (2.2 Mbp), that suggest a greater degree of metabolic versatility or responsiveness to the environment than seen for most of the other sequenced epsilonproteobacteria. A branched electron transport chain is apparent, with genes encoding complexes for the oxidation of hydrogen, reduced sulfur compounds, and formate and the reduction of nitrate and oxygen. Genes are present for a complete, autotrophic reductive citric acid cycle. Many genes are present that could facilitate growth in the spatially and temporally heterogeneous sediment habitat from where Sulfurimonas denitrificans was originally isolated. Many resistance-nodulation-development family transporter genes (10 total) are present; of these, several are predicted to encode heavy metal efflux transporters. An elaborate arsenal of sensory and regulatory protein-encoding genes is in place, as are genes necessary to prevent and respond to oxidative stress.

Published ahead of print on 7 December 2007.

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

S.M.S. and K.M.S. contributed equally to this work.

^# Present address: Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.

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