The soil actinomycete Kocuria rhizophila is a coccoid, gram-positive bacterium. It belongs to the family Micrococcaceae in the suborder Micrococcineae, a divergent bacterial group for which only limited amount of genomic information is currently available. The type strain of K. rhizophila (DSM 11926^T) was isolated from the rhizosphere of narrowleaf cattail (Typha angustifolia).^[1] The genus Kocuria was created from the genus Micrococcus on the basis of the phylogenetic and chemotaxonomic dissection of the genus Micrococcus.^[2] Members of the genus Kocuria were isolated from a wide variety of natural sources including mammalian skin, soil, the rhizosphere, fermented foods, clinical specimens, fresh water and marine sediments. K. rhizophila ATCC 9341, formerly Micrococcus luteus, is designated as a quality-control strain in a number of applications, including susceptibility assays for a variety of antibiotics.^[3] K. rhizophila DC2201 (= NBRC 103217) was derived from IFO 12708 and characterized as a strain exhibiting tolerance to a wide variety of organic solvents.^[4] The small genome size, the ability to grow rapidly and at high cell density, and the robustness of the cells at various growth conditions^[4] would be highly advantageous for the development of bacterial bioconversion system which could be used under harsh conditions such as in organic solvents.