Arthrobacter sp. EpRS66 and Arthrobacter sp. EpRS71: draft genome sequences from two bacteria isolated from Echinacea purpurea rhizospheric soil

One of the most promising, but still overlooked fields of microbiological research is represented by endophytic microorganisms, i.e. those organisms living in the tissues of host plants and/or in their rhizosphere (Reinhold-Hurek and Hurek, 2011 )(Rosenblueth and Martínez-Romero, 2006). These microbes are emerging as a new potential source of secondary metabolites and products, for exploitation in medicine, agriculture, and industry. From a biotechnological perspective, a controlled (engineered) colonization of plant’s tissues by some bacteria may be desirable because of their ability to produce a variety of plant growth promoting (PGP) molecules, spanning from siderophores, nitrogenases, hormones and so on. In addition, host-microbe interaction confers indirect advantage to the plant, resulting from the inhibition activity exerted by the associated microbial community towards potential pathogens. Moreover, in the field of medicine, there are examples of very well-known molecules derived by endophytes like antibiotics, antimycotics and anticancer drugs. Also, it is still unknown if plant-associated bacteria may enhance (or be responsible for) some of the effects exerted by the extracts of medicinal plants (essential oils) (Hardoim et al., 2008; Kloepper and Ryu, 2006) In this regard, in October 2012 , in Casola Valsenio (Italy), a collection of microorganisms was isolated from both internal tissues and the rhizospheric soil of the medicinal plant Echinacea purpurea, as reported in (Chiellini et al., 2014). Among others, two strains sampled from the rhizosphere and belonging to Arthrobacter species were identified, i.e. Arthrobacter sp. EpRS66 and Arthrobacter sp. EpRS71. Based on their antibiotic resistance profile, reported in (Mengoni et al., 2014), and on further tests performed on these two strains, they were selected as good candidates for genome sequencing analysis. The last, will constitute a resource to deeply investigate their genomic features and to perform comparative genomics analysis. Moreover, in the aim of new drugs discovery, the genome sequence will facilitate the identification of putative genes responsible for the production of bioactive compounds.