Kocuria rhizophila

Kocuria rhizophila is a soil dwelling Gram-positive bacterium in the genus Kocuria. It is used in industry for antimicrobial testing and in food preparation. The genome has been sequenced and contains 2,697,540 base pairs, which is among the smallest for Actinomycetes, with a G+C content of 71.16%. This encodes 2357 protein coding genes, including many transporters and enzymes for the transformation of phenolic compounds, contributing to its ability to metabolize plant material. The bacterium was isolated from the gut of the pine lappet moth from India. This was the first report of this bacterium strain from terrestrial insect larval gut.