Abstract
Environmental contamination with aromatic compounds is a universal challenge. Aromatic-degrading microorganisms isolated from the same or similar polluted environments seem to be more suitable for bioremediation. Moreover, microorganisms adapted to contaminated environments are able to use toxic compounds as the sole sources of carbon and energy. An indigenous strain of Pseudomonas, isolated from the Mahshahr Petrochemical plant in the Khuzestan province, southwest of Iran, was studied genetically. It was characterized as a novel Gram-negative, aerobic, halotolerant, rod-shaped bacterium designated Pseudomonas YKJ, which was resistant to chloramphenicol and ampicillin. Genome of the strain was completely sequenced using Illumina technology to identify its genetic characteristics. MLST analysis revealed that the YKJ strain belongs to the genus Pseudomonas indicating the highest sequence similarity with Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes strain CECT 5344 (99% identity). Core- and pan-genome analysis indicated that P. pseudoalcaligenes contains 1,671 core and 3,935 unique genes for coding DNA sequences. The metabolic and degradation pathways for aromatic pollutants were investigated using the NCBI and KEGG databases. Genomic and experimental analyses showed that the YKJ strain is able to degrade certain aromatic compounds including bisphenol A, phenol, benzoate, styrene, xylene, benzene and chlorobenzene. Moreover, antibiotic resistance and chemotaxis properties of the YKJ strain were found to be controlled by two-component regulatory systems.