Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 15, 2025

Recombinant Protein Expression, Crystallization, and Biophysical Studies of a Bacillus-conserved Nucleotide Pyrophosphorylase, BcMazG
Published on: May 16, 2017
Genome sequence analysis and characterization of Bacillus altitudinis B12, a polylactic acid- and keratin-degrading
Sergio Bordel1,2, Diego Martín-González1,2, Raúl Muñoz1,2
1Institute of Sustainable Processes, Dr. Mergelina S/N, 47011, Valladolid, Spain.
Abstract:
Keratin-rich wastes, mainly in the form of feathers, are recalcitrant residues generated in high amounts as by-products in chicken farms and food industry. Polylactic acid (PLA) is the second most common biodegradable polymer found in commercial plastics, which is not easily degraded by microbial activity. This work reports the 3.8-Mb genome of Bacillus altitudinis B12, a highly efficient PLA- and keratin-degrading bacterium, with potential for environmental friendly biotechnological applications in the feed, fertilizer, detergent, leather, and pharmaceutical industries. The whole genome sequence of B. altitudinis B12 revealed that this strain (which had been previously misclassified as Bacillus pumilus B12) is closely related to the B. altitudinis strains ER5, W3, and GR-8. A total of 4056 coding sequences were annotated using the RAST server, of which 2484 are core genes of the pan genome of B. altitudinis and 171 are unique to this strain. According to the sequence analysis, B. pumilus B12 has a predicted secretome of 353 proteins, among which a keratinase and a PLA depolymerase were identified by sequence analysis. The presence of these two enzymes could explain the characterized PLA and keratin biodegradation capability of the strain.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Applications of Molecular Taxonomy
Modern Molecular Taxonomy
Bacterial Phylum Actinobacteria
Hyperthermophilic Bacteria
Bacterial Phylum Proteobacteria

