Genome Sequence of Rhodococcus sp. Strain BCP1, a Biodegrader of Alkanes and Chlorinated Compounds

Rhodococcus sp. strain BCP1 (DSM 44980) co-metabolizes chlorinated compounds and mineralizes a broad range of alkanes being highly tolerant to these toxic chemicals. Here, we present the high-quality draft genome sequence of strain BCP1 consisting of 6,231,823 bp, with a G+C content of 70.4%, 5,902 protein-coding genes, and 58 RNAs genes. Rhodococcus genus comprises Gram-positive, non-sporulating, aerobic bacteria that are widely distributed in the environment (1). Rhodococcus sp. strain BCP1 (formerly: Rhodococcus aetherovorans strain BCP1, DSM 44980) was selected from an aerobic butane-utilizing consortium as the prevailing isolate able to co-metabolize chloroform, vinyl chloride and trichloroethylene (2, 3). As BCP1 also catabolizes a wide range of aliphatic, alicyclic and carboxylated alkanes, it represents a strain of considerable environmental and industrial interest (4). The genome sequencing of Rhodococcus sp. BCP1 was performed using 454 sequencing technology (Roche GS FLX Titanium). The total number of sequence reads were 668,686 from one shotgun library and 353,744 from one paired-end library (8-kb inserts). All the reads were assembled using Newbler 2.6 into 123 contigs with an N50 length of 237,787 bp and an average genome coverage of 65x. Based on paired-end directional information, the contigs were further ordered into 3 scaffolds, giving a total genome size of 6.2 Mb with a G+C content of 70.4%.