Abstract
Starkeya novella (Starkey 1934) Kelly et al. 2000 is a member of the family Xanthobacteraceae in the order ‘Rhizobiales’, which is thus far poorly characterized at the genome level. Cultures from this spe- cies are most interesting due to their facultatively chemolithoautotrophic lifestyle, which allows them to both consume carbon dioxide and to produce it. This feature makes S. novella an interesting model or- ganism for studying the genomic basis of regulatory networks required for the switch between con- sumption and production of carbon dioxide, a key component of the global carbon cycle. In addition, S. novella is of interest for its ability to grow on various inorganic sulfur compounds and several C1- compounds such as methanol. Besides Azorhizobium caulinodans, S. novella is only the second spe- cies in the family Xanthobacteraceae with a completely sequenced genome of a type strain. The cur- rent taxonomic classification of this group is in significant conflict with the 16S rRNA data. The ge- nomic data indicate that the physiological capabilities of the organism might have been underestimat- ed. The 4,765,023 bp long chromosome with its 4,511 protein-coding and 52 RNA genes was se- quenced as part of the DOE Joint Genome Institute Community Sequencing Program (CSP) 2008.