Genomic organization of the metal-mobilizing bacterium Thiobacillus cuprinus

The genomic organization of Thiobacillus cuprinus, a facultative chemolithotrophic bacterium that preferentially solubilizes copper from complex ores, has been studied by Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE). It has been determined that T. cuprinus has a circular chromosome of about 3.8 Mb in size as concluded by analysis of gamma-irradiated total DNA and restriction analysis. Macrorestriction patterns for several restriction enzymes have been generated. Restriction enzymes AseI, DraI, SpeI, SwaI and XbaI give a number of fragments that can be adequately resolved by PFGE and then be used for electrophoretic karyotyping and for the construction of physical maps of the chromosome. Such a map has been constructed for the endonucleases SpeI and SwaI. The localization of several heterologous and homologous genes on the physical map, including those for rRNA, has paved the way for the construction of a genetic map.