Burkholderia graminis C4D1M is a ubiquitous rhizosphere colonizer and important for carbon sequestration and nitrogen fixer.

The genus Burkholderia is known for harboring members capable of growing on more than 200 organic compounds, including resistant aromatic compounds; degrading very toxic and environmentally persistent pollutants (Maltseva et al. 1999). Furthermore, members of the genus protect plants against other bacterial pathogens (Parke 1990); promote plant growth (Compant et al. 2005); act as fungus- (Partida-Martinez and Hertweck, 2005), termite- (Harazono et al. 2003), ant- (Santos et al. 2004, Van Borm et al. 2002) or other insect- endosymbionts (Kikuchi et al. 2005): cause diseases in plants (Ballard et al. 1970) animals and humans (LiPuma et al. 2001): and improve the nitrogen resources to soils, the nutrient usually most limiting to plant productivity, by biological nitrogen fixation (Tran Van et al. 2000).

Among the many members comprising the genus Burkholderia, the species B. graminis is a true rhizosphere colonizer. Burkholderia graminis was isolated from senescent maize roots in Cote Saint Andre, France, in 1994. This strain was chosen as the type strain for the species. It was described as motile cells of 1.0-1.5 mm in length, 0.3-0.8 mm in width. Cells produce oxidase, catalase, urease, and arginine dihydrolase. Colonies are thin, brownish-yellow, and translucent when grown in Luria-Bertani agar medium. It grows on a variety of carbon sources as do other members of the genus Burkholderia.

Being a rhizosphere-associated microorganism, this species is expected to harbor different genetic composition reflecting its grass-root habitat.  Using comparative genomics, identification of genes contributing to plant rhizosphere competency (e. g. plant secondary products degradation pathways, genes encoding polypeptides responsible for plant cross talk) should be possible. These genes are important for plant growth and hence to carbon sequestration.

The Burkholderia graminis strain C4D1M is deposited in the following collections:
American Type Culture Collection - ATCC 700544,
Belgian Coordinated Collections Of Microorganisms- LMG 18924
University of Göteborg Culture Collection, Sweden - CCUG 42231.

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