Pyrococcus furiosus

Pyrococcus furiosus

Pyrococcus furiosus is a thermophilic Archaeenart. Their optimum growth temperature is 100 ° C. P. furiosus is one of the few organisms that contain the element tungsten.

Properties

P. furiosus is known for its rapid growth under optimal conditions ( division rate is less than 40 min). Microscopically, it turns out to be 0.8 to 1.5 microns wide coccus with flagella dar. It grows at a temperature between 70 and 103 ° C and a pH of 5-9 in a medium of yeast extract, maltose, and various other factors. No growth in the presence of alcohol or simple sugars takes place.

Use

The proteins from P. furiosus are very heat stable. Therefore, the thermostable DNA polymerase ( Pfu polymerase, Deep Vent polymerase) from P. furiosus is frequently used for PCR analysis.

Discovery

The archaeon was first isolated from anaerobic, geothermally heated marine sediments with a temperature of 90 ° C and 100 ° C at the beach of Porto Levante, on the island of Vulcano in Italy. It was first described in 1986 by Karl Stetter of the University of Regensburg and his colleague Gerhard Fiala.

Genome

The complete genome of P. furiosus was sequenced in 2001 by scientists at the University of Maryland. The genome is 1,908 kilobases in size and encodes 2,065 proteins.

Naming

Pyrococcus is Greek and means " fire berry ". The name refers to the round shape and its thermophilicity. Furiosus, Latin for " frantic " is intended to indicate the rapid rate of division.