Pseudomonas sp. Hg3Tf, Hg5Tf and Hg7Tf genome sequencing and assembly

The Hg3Tf, Hg5Tf and Hg7Tf isolates are mercury-resistant endosymbionts of coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara) that show plant growth-promoting properties and biofilm formation. All three of them contain a mer operon on a plasmid, a 68 kb long fragment on the chromosome predicted to code resistance to cobalt, zinc, cadmium, copper, chromate, nickel, silver and arsenic (an ars operon containing arsenate reductases), as well as another ars operon without an arsenate reductase located at a different site on the chromosome. Metal resistance, plant growth promotion, and biofilm formation make the isolates potentially relevant for phytobioremediation studies of metal-contaminated sites. Knowledge of their genomes will allow more in-depth studies of the mechanisms of metal resistance and bacterial interaction with coltsfoot and other plants.