Sulfurimonas denitrificans DSM 1251

Sulfurimonas denitrificans (strain ATCC 33889 / DSM 1251) is a sulfur-oxidizing, chemolithoautotroph Epsilonproteobacterium. Its genome was sequenced in order to have a representative of the sulfur-oxidizing Epsilonproteobacteria present in the coastal marine sediments in addition to the genomes of the deep-sea hydrothermal vents sulfur-oxidizing Epsilonproteobacteria Nitratiruptor sp. (strain SB155-2) and Sulfurovum sp. (strain NBC37-1). Based on its phenotype, S. denitrificans was originally named Thiomicrospora denitrificans. When the polyphyletic nature of Thiomicrospora was revealed, with members from both the Gammaproteobacteria and Epsilonproteobacteria, Thiomicrospora denitrificans was removed from the genus Thiomicrospora and placed within the genus Sulfurimonas. Sulfurimonas denitrificans (strain ATCC 33889 / DSM 1251) has one of the largest genomes among the Epsilonproteobacteria sequenced to date, which likely provides the metabolic versatility necessary for survival in a habitat more complex than found in a metazoan host. Close relatives of S. denitrificans are motile while strain ATCC 33889 / DSM 1251 is nonmotile probably because of the interruption of a flagellar biosynthesis operon by a transposon. This nonmotility seems to have been acquired recently. (EBI Integr8)