Does anyone know anything about Arthrobacter globiformis?

Question

I need correct information on the structure, and history, and benefits.

Answer 1

Arthrobacter are your basic soil bacteria, but have been found to perform several important functions as we continue to poison the earth with various nasty chemicals. Recently, it has been discovered that several species of Arthrobacter can reduce hexavalent chromium, which can cause severe irritaions to humans, and they are also known to degrade agricultural pesticides.

Arthrobacteria form small colonies on blood agar, ranging in color from yellow to white and measuring 2 mm in diameter on average. They are widely distributed in soil. Due to their ubiquitous presence in soil and their ability to metabolize a variety of substances, arthrobacteria have been discovered to degrade a variety of very nasty chemicals. Hexavalent chromium (a toxic substance made famous through its association with the movie Erin Brockovich) is widespread throughout the environment because of its use in dyes, pigments, refractory material, leather tanning, and electroplating. There are two forms of chromium used in these processes: trivalent and hexavalent. Hexavalent chromium is 100 times more toxic than trivalent chromium because of its oxidation state, and is also much more soluble in water, allowing it to seep into groundwater very easily. Very few organisms can grow in the presence of hexavalent chromium, but it has been recently discovered, that Arthrobacter cannot only grow in the presence of hexavalent chromium, it can also reduce it to trivalent chromium, its less toxic form.

Arthrobacter has also been found to degrade agricultural pesticides in conjunction with several strains of Streptomyces in a synergistic relationship. Together, they are able to completely degrade the organophosphate insecticide diazinon. They can use this as the only source of carbon and energy. Alone, neither genus can grow on this compound, but working together they are able.

A species of Arthrobacter called Arthrobacter chlorophenolicus A6 has been experimented with and it was shown that is can survive in unusually hight concertrations of the toxic pollutant 4-chlotophenol. It was tagged with either gfp (green fluorescent protien gene) or the luc gene (firefly luciferase) and then inoculated into 4-chlorophenol contaminated soil where they were able to completely remove 175 µg/g 4-chlorophenol within 10 days. This trait may later be able to help remove this contaminant from the soil.