著者

今中,忠行

出版者

日本生物工学会

雑誌

生物工学会誌 : seibutsu-kogaku kaishi

巻号頁・発行日

vol.80, no.1, 2002-01-25

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There are a huge number of microorganisms in the extreme environment. For example, we can isolate many extremophiles such as hyperthermophiles, psychrophiles, and so on. The phylogenetic tree based on 16S rRNA or protein sequences shows that all organisms have a common ancestor. All organisms are divided into three groups, eucarya, bacteria, and archaea. Thermococcus kodakaraensis KOD1 is a newly isolated hyperthermophilic archaeon from a hot spring at a wharf of Kodakara Island, Kagoshima, Japan. The optimum temperature for KOD1 cell growth is 95℃. The KOD1 strain possesses a circular genome, whose sequence has been determined (approximately 2076 kb). Most enzymes from KOD1 are extremely thermostable and the reason for thermostability was analyzed by determining the tertiary structure of those enzymes. A rapid and efficient method of amplifying specific DNA sequences by KOD1 DNA polymerase and characteristics of glutamate dehydrogenase, DNA ligase, and Rubisco are introduced here.