Brevibacillus borstelensis as contaminant in our lab? - (May/18/2014 )

Hello everybody,

I isolated bacteria from the environment, did colony PCR and sequencing of the 16S rRNA geneand was surprised that the result was Brevibacillus borstelensis. This is a thermophilic polyethylene degrading bacterium. I again amplified the gene and sequenced, the results were the same. Has anybody ever encountered this species as contamination or has worked with this species and give me some hints? At our lab, we are working with crustaceans, birds and pigs.

Thank you very much!

As it is a thermophile it could come from composting pig faeces.

mhh, we have pig brains only. Seems to be a special contaminant

It could be that the people who are getting the pigs brains are bringing it back to the lab?