[4][5] Novosphingobium pentaromativorans is a gram-negative rod-shaped bacteria that forms colonies with a yellow pigment.

[1][5] N. pentaromativorans US6-1 was sequenced in 2012, resulting in a genome of 5,096,413 bp with 63.1% GC content and the identification of two plasmids, designated pLA1 and pLA2.

[2] One of the most studied qualities of N. pentaromativorans is its ability to degrade high molecular weight (HMW) polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).

[1] HMW PAHs are a toxic environmental pollutant that are often resistant to microbial degradation.

Because of this, organisms that are capable of degrading these HMW PAHs are of high interest as potential candidates for bioremediation of PAH-contaminated environments.