Characteristics and uses of B. megaterium

• Widely found in nature with adaptive traits: soil, rice paddies, honey, milk of lactating women, toxic environments.
• Environmental and industrial applications: glucose dehydrogenase, penicillin aminidase, vitamin B12, oxetanocin, P450 cytochromes, biodegradation enzymes, etc.
• Genetically tractable: transducing phage, protoplast transformation, Tn917, etc.
• Plasmid content and cloning: harbors many plasmids, rolling circle vectors are stable,efficient secretion, lacks extracellular alkaline proteases.
• Large plasmids may be involved in horizontal gene transfer: integrase/recombinase, transposases, mobilization, and relaxase genes, etc.