Thermus thermophilus

Thermus thermophilus is a Gram-negative bacterium used in a range of biotechnological applications, including as a model organism for genetic manipulation, structural genomics, and systems biology. The bacterium is extremely thermophilic, with an optimal growth temperature of about . Thermus thermophilus was originally isolated from a thermal vent within a hot spring in Izu, Japan by Tairo Oshima and Kazutomo Imahori. The organism has also been found to be important in the degradation of organic materials in the thermogenic phase of composting. T. thermophilus is classified into several strains, of which HB8 and HB27 are the most commonly used in laboratory environments. Genome analyses of these strains were independently completed in 2004. Thermus thermophilus is a Gram-negative bacterium with an outer membrane that is composed of phospholipids and lipopolysaccharides. This bacterium also has a thin peptidoglycan (also known as murein) layer, in this layer there are 29 muropeptides which account for more than 85% of the total murein layer. The presence of Ala, Glu, Gly, Orn, N-acetyl glucosamine and N-acetylmuramic were found in the murein layer of this bacterium. Another unique feature of this murein layer is that the N-terminal Gly is substituted with phenylacetic acid. This is the first instance of phenylacetic acid found in the murein of bacterial cells. The composition and peptide cross-bridges found in this murein layer are typical of Gram-positive bacterium, but the amount, the degree of the cross-linkage and length of the glycan chain gives this bacterium its Gram-negative properties. Thermus thermophilus was originally found within a thermal vent in Japan. These bacteria can be found in a variety of geothermal environments. These Thermophiles require a more stringent DNA repair system, as DNA becomes unstable at high temperatures. The GC content of this bacterium is about 69%, this contributes to the thermostability of this bacterium's genome. The two most widely used strains in laboratory settings are HB27 and HB8.