Sphingomonas

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Sphingomonas

Sphingomonas was defined in 1990 as a group of Gram-negative

Gram-negative

Gram-negative bacteria are those bacteria that do not retain crystal violet dye in the Gram staining protocol. In a Gram stain test, a counterstain is added after the crystal violet, coloring all Gram-negative bacteria with a red or pink color....
, rod-shaped, chemoheterotrophic, strictly aerobic

Aerobic organism

An aerobic organism or aerobe is an organism that can survive and grow in an oxygenated environment....
bacteria. They possess ubiquinone 10 as their major respiratory quinone

Quinone

Quinones are "compounds having a fully conjugated cyclic Diketone structure, such as that of benzoquinones, derived from aromatic compounds by conversion of an even number of ?CH= groups into ?C? groups with any necessary rearrangement of double bonds ."...
, contain glycosphingolipids (GSLs) instead of lipopolysaccharide

Lipopolysaccharide

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Sphingomonas was defined in 1990 as a group of Gram-negative

Gram-negative

Aerobic organism

An aerobic organism or aerobe is an organism that can survive and grow in an oxygenated environment....
bacteria. They possess ubiquinone 10 as their major respiratory quinone

Quinone

Lipopolysaccharide

Lipopolysaccharides , also known as lipoglycans, are large molecules consisting of a lipid and a polysaccharide joined by a covalent bond; they are found in the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria, act as endotoxins and elicit strong immune responses in animals....
in their cell envelopes, and typically produce yellow-pigmented colonies.

By 2001, the genus included more than 20 species that were quite diverse in terms of their phylogenetic, ecological, and physiological properties. As a result, the Sphingomonas were subdivided into four genera: Sphingomonas, Sphingobium
Sphingobium

Sphingobium species are different from other Sphingomonas in that they are commonly isolated from soil, however Sphingobium yanoikuyae was isolated from a clinical specimen....
, Novosphingobium
Novosphingobium

Novosphingobium is a genus of Gram-negative bacteria that includes N. taihuense, which can biodegradation aromatic compounds such as phenol, aniline, nitrobenzene and phenanthrene....
and Sphingopyxis
Sphingopyxis

Sphingomonas is one of the four genera of Sphingomonas.Sphingomonas alaskensis and S. flavimarisis are the dominant bacteria in some ocean oligotrophic environments....
.

These genera are commonly referred to collectively as "sphingomonads" . The sphingomonads are widely distributed in nature, having been isolated from many different land and water habitats, as well as from plant root systems, clinical specimens, and other sources.

Some of the sphingomonads (especially Sphingomonas paucimobilis) also play a role in human disease, primarily by causing a range of mostly nosocomial, non-life-threatening infection

Infection

An infection is the detrimental colonization of a host organism by a foreign species. In an infection, the infecting organism seeks to utilize the host resources to multiply ....
s that typically are easily treated by antibiotic

Antibiotic

In common usage, an antibiotic is a substance or compound that kills or inhibits the growth of bacteria. Antibiotics belong to the group of antimicrobial compounds used to treat infections caused by microorganisms, including fungus and protozoa....
therapy. Due to their biodegradative and biosynthetic capabilities, sphingomonads have been utilised for a wide range of biotechnological applications, from bioremediation of environmental contaminants to production of extracellular polymers such as sphingans (eg. gellan

Gellan gum

Gellan gum is a water-soluble polysaccharide produced by Sphingomonas elodea, a bacterium....
, welan, and rhamsan) used extensively in the food and other industries. One strain, Sphingomonas sp. 2MPII, can degrade

Biodegradation

Biodegradation is the process by which organic compound substances are decomposition by the enzymes produced by living organisms. The term is often used in relation to ecology, waste management and natural environmental environmental remediation ....
2-methylphenanthrene

Phenanthrene

Phenanthrene is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon composed of three fused benzene rings. The name phenanthrene is a composite of phenyl and anthracene....

In May 2008, Daniel Burd, a 16 year old Canadian, won the Canada-Wide Science Fair

Canada-Wide Science Fair

The Canada-Wide Science Fair is an annual science fair in Canada held by the . It is the highest level of competition in Canada, and approximately 400 projects and 450 students are judged at the fair....
in Ottawa after discovering that Sphingomonas can degrade over 40% of the weight of plastic bags (Polyethylene

Polyethylene

Polyethylene or polythene is a thermoplastic commodity heavily used in consumer products . Over 60 million tons of the material are produced worldwide every year....
) in less than three months.

A Sphingomonas sp. strain BSAR-1 expressing a high activity alkaline phosphatase (PhoK) has also been applied for bioprecipitation of uranium from alkaline solutions. The precipitation ability was enhanced by overexpressing PhoK protein in E. coli. This is the first report of bioprecipitation of uranium under alkaline conditions, adding another feather in the cap of the Sphingomonads.

External links

Kawawada, Karen, The Record (May 22 2008).