Thermus acquaticus

One of the most important of these extremophiles is a bacterium (Thermus acquaticus) discovered in 1965 in a Yellowstone National Park hot spring where the temperature is a constant 73 °C (Centigrade or Celsius) or 163 °F (Fahrenheit). About twenty years... 

The most widely used DNA polymerase in PCR is from Thermus acquaticus, the Taq polymerase. This enzyme has an optimal temperature for polymerization in the range of 70 to 75°C. It extends DNA chains at a rate of about 2 kb per minute. It is fairly resistant to the continual cycles of heating and cooling required for PCR. The half-life for thermal denaturation of Taq polymerase is 1.6h at 95°C. When very high denaturation temperatures are needed, as in the PCR amplification of very G+C-rich DNA, more thermal-stable polymerase such as the enzyme from Thermococcus litoralis with a half-life of 1.8h at 100°C or the enzyme from Pyrococcus furiosis with a half-life of 8 h at 100°C, can be employed. However, these enzymes are not as processive as Taq polymerase, which makes it more difficult to amplify long templates. 

In the 1960 s, Thomas Brock found Thermus acquaticus, an archaea organism, in the hot springs at Yellowstone National Park. The microbe s polymerase enzyme can duplicate DNA at high temperatures and has been used in genetic studies. 

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See also in sourсe #XX -- [ , ]

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