Ralstonia

Ralstonia is a genus of Proteobacteria, previously included in the genus Pseudomonas. It is named after the American bacteriologist Ericka Ralston.[1]

Industrial uses

Researchers at UCLA have genetically modified a strain of Ralstonia (R. eutropha H16) to produce isobutanol from CO2 feedstock using electricity produced by a solar cell. The project, funded by the U.S. Dept. of Energy, is a potential high energy-density electrofuel that could use existing infrastructure to replace oil as a transportation fuel.[2]

Genomics

Ralstonia has also been identified as a common contaminant of DNA extraction kit or PCR reagents, which may lead to its erroneous appearance in microbiota or metagenomic datasets.[3]

References

  1. Garrity, George (2001). Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 612. ISBN 9780387241456.
  2. Integrated Electromicrobial Conversion of CO2 to Higher Alcohols, Liao, James C. Science 30 March 2012: Vol. 335 no. 6076 p. 1596 DOI: 10.1126/science.1217643
  3. Salter, S; Cox, M; Turek, E; Calus, S; Cookson, W; Moffatt, M; Turner, P; Parkhill, J; Loman, N; Walker, A (2014). "Reagent contamination can critically impact sequence-based microbiome analyses". bioRxiv. doi:10.1101/007187.
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