A mutant ('lab strain') of the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus, lacking flagella, has unusual growth physiology.

ABSTRACT: A mutant ('lab strain') of the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus DSM3638 exhibited an extended exponential phase and atypical cell aggregation behavior. Genomic DNA from the mutant culture was sequenced and compared to wild-type (WT) DSM3638, revealing 145 genes with one or more insertions, deletions, or substitutions (12 silent, 33 amino acid substitutions, and 100 frame shifts). Approximately, half of the mutated genes were transposases or hypothetical proteins. The WT transcriptome revealed numerous changes in amino acid and pyrimidine biosynthesis pathways coincidental with growth phase transitions, unlike the mutant whose transcriptome reflected the observed prolonged exponential phase. Targeted gene deletions, based on frame-shifted ORFs in the mutant genome, in a geneti

SUBMITTER: Lewis DL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4342268 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature