Alphaproteobacterium Strain Q-1 genome sequencing

Alphaproteobacterium sp. Q-1 is one of iodide-oxidizing bacteria that can oxidize iodide (I-) to molecular iodine (I2). Such bacteria have been isolated from natural gas brine water containing very high concentrations of iodide (60 ?M to 1.2 mM). They are aerobic heterotrophic bacteria in the class Alphaproteobacteria, and can also be enriched from natural seawater supplemented with iodide, due to much higher I2 tolerance than the other heterotrophic bacteria in seawater. Recently, iodide-oxidizing bacteria are found to be involved in microbial clogging of well pipes in iodine-producing facilities. Alphaproteobacterium sp. Q-1 was isolated from brine water in Miyazaki, Japan, and was phylogenetically related with a halophilic photosynthetic bacterium Rhodothalassium salexigens with the sequence similarity of 90%. This bacterium showed a strong iodide-oxidizing enzyme activity, which was later found to be one of multicopper oxidases.