Bacillus megaterium is deep-rooted in the Bacillus phylogeny, making it an evolutionarily key species and of particular importance in understanding genome evolution, dynamics, and plasticity in the bacilli. B. megaterium is a commercially available, nonpathogenic host for the biotechnological production of several substances, including vitamin B 12 , penicillin acylase, and amylases. Here, we report the analysis of the first complete genome sequences of two important B. megaterium strains, the plasmidless strain DSM319 and QM B1551, which harbors seven indigenous plasmids. The 5.1-Mbp chromosome carries approximately 5,300 genes, while QM B1551 plasmids represent a combined 417 kb and 523 genes, one of the largest plasmid arrays sequenced in a single bacterial strain. We have documented extensive gene transfer between the plasmids and the chromosome. Each strain carries roughly 300 strain-specific chromosomal genes that account for differences in their experimentally confirmed phenotypes. B. megaterium is able to synthesize vitamin B 12 through an oxygen-independent adenosylcobalamin pathway, which together with other key energetic and metabolic pathways has now been fully reconstructed. Other novel genes include a second ftsZ gene, which may be responsible for the large cell size of members of this species, as well as genes for gas vesicles, a second ␤-galactosidase gene, and most but not all of the genes needed for genetic competence. Comprehensive analyses of the global Bacillus gene pool showed that only an asymmetric region around the origin of replication was syntenic across the genus. This appears to be a characteristic feature of the Bacillus spp. genome architecture and may be key to their sporulating lifestyle.

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S. globisporus 1912 in one cluster. Twenty of these lnd genes have been sequenced for the first time. The new regulatory responce gene lndRR and the sensor kinase gene lndY1 were proposed as the members of the putative two-component system. High identity (94-95 %) was determined for the lnd genes of the 1912 strain and those of the metagenomic clone AZ97. Seven carotenoid biosynthetic genes crt of the strain 1912-4Crt were sequenced and localized in one cluster consisting of two convergent operons from 4 and 3 crt genes. High homology (93 %) of the crt gene clusters of S. globisporus 1912 and S. griseus IFO 13350 was shown. Two non-punctual repeats (NPRs) of 21 bp were identified in the sequence of crtY gene coding lycopene cyclase. It was shown that the deletion of 117 bp including the sequence between NPRs of 96 bp and one NPR from 5`-side activated the crt gene cluster and increased the production of beta carotene (6.91 mg/l) and lycopene (3.24 mg/l) by the strain 1912-4Crt. Deletion of 86 bp was revealed in the regulatory gene lndRR resulting in the deficiency of landomycin E production in the strain 1912-4Crt. The DNA sequences of crt and lnd genes of S. globisporus 1912 were submitted to the NCBI database with accession numbers KM349312 and KJ645792, respectively.S. globisporus 1912 produced a low-molecular-weight compound that, like A-factor, restored the landomycin E and streptomycin biosynthesis and sporulation of the defective mutants S. globisporus 1912-B2 and S. griseus 1439, respectively. The compound was purified by thin layer chromatography and HPLC. It had an absorption maximum at λ max = = 245 nm and a molecular mass m/z 244. On the basis of NMR spectroscopy the chemical structure of the transcriptional regulator was elucidated as the new (L)-N-methylphenylalanyl-dehydrobutyrine diketopiperazine. K e y w o r d s:Soil bacteria Streptomyces produces the majority of the known antibiotics, many of the carotenoids and transcriptional regulators [18][19][20]. The research of the new antitumor antibiotics presents an important scientific problem because of the rise of drug resistant metastatic cells from the initial tumor [4]. The

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