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Updated: Apr 26, 2026

Bioprospecting of Extremophilic Microorganisms to Address Environmental Pollution
Published on: December 30, 2021
Deinococcus phoenicis sp. nov., an extreme ionizing-radiation-resistant bacterium isolated from the Phoenix Lander
Parag Vaishampayan1, Anne Hayden Roberts2, Angela Augustus2
1Biotechnology and Planetary Protection Group, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California, Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
Abstract:
A bacterial strain, designated 1P10ME(T), which was resistant to extreme doses of ionizing radiation, pale-pink, non-motile, and a tetrad-forming coccoid was isolated from a cleanroom at the Kennedy Space Center, where the Phoenix spacecraft was assembled. Strain 1P10ME(T) showed optimum growth at 30 °C, with a pH range for growth of 6.5-9.0 and was highly sensitive to sodium chloride, growing only in medium with no added NaCl. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain 1P10ME(T) represents a novel member of the genus Deinococcus, with low sequence similarities (<93.5%) to recognized species of the genus Deinococcus. The predominant cellular fatty acid was C15:1ω6c. This novel strain exhibits extreme resistance to gamma radiation (D10 >8 kGy) and UV (D10 >1000 Jm(-2)). The results of our polyphasic taxonomic analyses suggest that strain 1P10ME(T) represents a novel species of the genus Deinococcus, for which the name Deinococcus phoenicis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is 1P10ME(T) ( = NRRL B-59546(T) = DSM 27173(T)).
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