Thermus thermophilus

Thermus thermophilus is a Gram-negative bacterium that thrives at very high temperatures, with an optimal growth temperature of about 65 degrees Celsius. It was first isolated from a thermal vent in a hot spring at Izu, Japan, by Tairo Oshima and Kazutomo Imahori, and it also turns up in a variety of geothermal settings and in the hot, active phase of composting, where it helps break down organic material. Its outer membrane is built from phospholipids and lipopolysaccharides, and its thin peptidoglycan layer contains unusual components, including phenylacetic acid on the terminal glycine, a first for bacterial murein. Because its DNA must stay stable in heat, the genome is rich in guanine and cytosine, about 69 percent. Laboratories mostly use the strains HB8 and HB27, whose genomes were sequenced independently in 2004, and the species is a model organism for genetic manipulation, structural genomics and systems biology. It shows the highest natural transformation frequencies known, and its DNA polymerase is used in some PCR applications.