Thermus thermophilus TMY isolated from silica scale taken from a geothermal power plant.
OBJECTIVE
To identify an extreme thermophile, strain TMY, isolated from silica scale from the geothermal electric power plant and to examine microdiversity of Thermus thermophilus strains.


RESULTS
The isolated strain TMY was identified by morphological, biochemical and physiological tests. Phylogenetic comparison of the strain and other Thermus strains with 16S rDNA analysis, RAPD and ERIC-PCR fingerprinting were performed. Strain TMY was closely related to strain which was isolated from a hot spring in New Zealand and shown to belong to the Japanese Thermus cluster. However, there were considerable genetic differences between strain TMY and other Thermus species using DNA fingerprinting.


CONCLUSIONS
Based on morphological, physiological and genetic properties, strain TMY could be a strain of T. thermophilus. The distinct properties of strain TMY suggest that microdiversity of T. thermophilus strains should be considered.


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study have demonstrated genetic diversity within T. thermophilus strains, which were previously masked by an almost identical 16S rDNA sequence. RAPD and ERIC-PCR could be potential methods for distinguishing between Thermus strains.
Fujino
Y
Y
Department of Chemistry and Physics of Condensed Matter, Faculty of Science, Kyushu University, Japan.
Kawatsu
R
R
Inagaki
F
F
Umeda
A
A
Yokoyama
T
T
Okaue
Y
Y
Iwai
S
S
Ogata
S
S
Ohshima
T
T
Doi
K
K
D001483:Base Sequence; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D014644:Genetic Variation; D045482:Hot Springs; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009520:New Zealand; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D011210:Power Plants; D019105:Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique; D021521:Ribotyping; D012822:Silicon Dioxide; D016963:Thermus thermophilus / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*
D012822:Silicon Dioxide