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Thermus thermophilus as biological model

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Abstract

Thermus spp is one of the most wide spread genuses of thermophilic bacteria, with isolates found in natural as well as in man-made thermal environments. The high growth rates, cell yields of the cultures, and the constitutive expression of an impressively efficient natural competence apparatus, amongst other properties, make some strains of the genus excellent laboratory models to study the molecular basis of thermophilia. These properties, together with the fact that enzymes and protein complexes from extremophiles are easier to crystallize have led to the development of an ongoing structural biology program dedicated to T. thermophilus HB8, making this organism probably the best so far known from a protein structure point view. Furthermore, the availability of plasmids and up to four thermostable antibiotic selection markers allows its use in physiological studies as a model for ancient bacteria. Regarding biotechnological applications this genus continues to be a source of thermophilic enzymes of great biotechnological interest and, more recently, a tool for the over-expression of thermophilic enzymes or for the selection of thermostable mutants from mesophilic proteins by directed evolution. In this article, we review the properties of this organism as biological model and its biotechnological applications.

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Acknowledgments

This work has been supported by grants of code BIO2007-60245 and S0505/PPQ/0344 from the “Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia” and the “Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid”, respectively. A. Hidalgo is supported by a “Ramón y Cajal “contract. An institutional grant from Fundación Ramón Areces to CBMSO is also acknowledged.

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  1. Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa. UAM-CSIC, Campus de Cantoblanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain

    Felipe Cava, Aurelio Hidalgo & José Berenguer

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  1. Felipe Cava
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  2. Aurelio Hidalgo
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  3. José Berenguer
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Correspondence to José Berenguer.

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Communicated by T. Matsunaga.

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Cava, F., Hidalgo, A. & Berenguer, J. Thermus thermophilus as biological model. Extremophiles 13, 213–231 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00792-009-0226-6

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