Bacteria Genomes - LISTERIA INNOCUA

Listeria innocua are non spore-forming, nonbranching, Gram-positive rods that occur individually or form short chains.

Listeria innocua is widely distributed throughout the environment, but primary habitats are considered to be soil and decaying vegetable matter, living as a saprophyte. Listeria can also survive in many extreme conditions that it encounters during its lifespan, such as high salt concentrations, high pH, and high temperature. Both pathogenic and innocuous forms of listeria have this ability.

Listeria species also form biofilms, which allow them to attach to solid surfaces where they proliferate and become extremely difficult to remove.

Listeria innocua, present in foodstuffs, is the species that is closest to L. monocytogenes, but it is not pathogenic. Knowledge of the two genomes has allowed a comparative analysis between a pathogenic Listeria and a non-pathogenic Listeria

References:

Science 2001, 294 (5543):849-52
http://www.pasteur.fr/actu/presse/com/dossiers/GBgenomics/GBgenlist.html
http://biology.kenyon.edu/Microbial_Biorealm/bacteria/gram-positive/listeria/listeria.htm#cell