Deinococcus as new chassis for industrial biotechnology: biology, physiology and tools

Abstract

Deinococcus spp are among the most radiation-resistant micro-organisms that have been discovered. They show remarkable resistance to a range of damage caused by ionizing radiation, desiccation, UV radiation and oxidizing agents. Traditionally, Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae have been the two platforms of choice for engineering micro-organisms for biotechnological applications, because they are well understood and easy to work with. However, in recent years, researchers have begun using Deinococcus spp in biotechnologies and bioremediation due to their specific ability to grow and express novel engineered functions. More recently, the sequencing of several Deinococcus spp and comparative genomic analysis have provided new insight into the potential of this genus. Features such as the accumulation of genes encoding cell cleaning systems that eliminate organic and inorganic cell toxic components are widespread among Deinococcus spp. Other features such as the ability to degrade and metabolize sugars and polymeric sugars make Deinococcus spp. an attractive alternative for use in industrial biotechnology.

Keywords: Deinococcus; biochemical engineering; biotechnology; extremophile; fermentation biotechnology.

Figure 1

A genomic comparison of Deinococcus proteolitycus (2·84 Mb), Deinococcus geothermalis (3·2472 Mb) and Deinococcus gobiensis genomes (4·41 Mb). Putative orthologous genes were determined by reciprocal best-hits BLAST with an e-value cut-off of 10^e−3. Most of the core genome is conserved and located on the chromosome, but the plasmids are expectedly more divergent.

Figure 2

Deinococcus geothermalis often forms tetrades (a, c) and presents an unusual thick cell envelope (c, d). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of D. geothermalis planktonic cells (a) and cells in contact with Whatman paper (b) Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) images of D. geothermalis (c, d).