Geobacillus stearothermophilus

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Geobacillus stearothermophilus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Bacteria
Phylum: Bacillota
Class: Bacilli
Order: Bacillales
Family: Bacillaceae
Genus: Geobacillus
Species:
G. stearothermophilus
Binomial name
Geobacillus stearothermophilus
(Donk 1920) Nazina et al. 2001

Geobacillus stearothermophilus (previously Bacillus stearothermophilus)

incubated. A color and/or turbidity change indicates the results of the sterilization process; no change indicates that the sterilization conditions were achieved, otherwise the growth of the spores indicates that the sterilization process has not been met. Recently a fluorescent-tagged
strain, Rapid Readout(tm), is being used for verifying sterilization, since the visible blue fluorescence appears in about one-tenth the time needed for pH-indicator color change, and an inexpensive light sensor can detect the growing colonies.

Biological indicators are used in conjunction with

chemical indicators and process indicators
to validate sterilization processes.

It was first described in 1920 as Bacillus stearothermophilus,[3] but, together with Bacillus thermoglucosidasius, it was reclassified as a member of the genus Geobacillus in 2001.[4]

Applications in molecular biology

DNA polymerase

DNA polymerase I
Identifiers
OrganismGeobacillus stearothermophilus
SymbolPolA
UniProt
E1C9K5
Search for
StructuresSwiss-model
DomainsInterPro
Thermostable Group II Intron Reverse Transcriptase GsI-IIC
Identifiers
OrganismGeobacillus stearothermophilus
SymbolTRT
UniProt
E2GM63
Search for
StructuresSwiss-model
DomainsInterPro

Recently, a DNA polymerase derived from these bacteria, Bst polymerase, has become important in molecular biology applications.

Bst polymerase has a helicase-like activity, making it able to unwind DNA strands. Its optimum functional temperature is between 60 and 65 °C and it is denatured at temperatures above 70 °C. These features make it useful in loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP).[5] LAMP is similar to the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) but does not require the high temperature (96 °C) step required to denature DNA.

Reverse transcriptase

In 2013, a

thermostable group II intron reverse transcriptase (TGIRT), GsI-IIC-MRF, from G. stearothermophilus was found to retain activity up to 70 °C and to exhibit high processivity and a low error rate.[6] These properties make this enzyme useful for reverse transcribing long and/or highly structured RNA molecules. A method for determining RNA secondary structure, DMS-MaPseq, uses this enzyme because it converts normal RNA to DNA accurately but introduces mutations at unpaired bases that have been methylated by dimethyl sulfate, and the mutations can be identified via sequencing.[7]

References

  1. PMID 21856988
    .
  2. PMID 11411700
    .
  3. ^ DONK P.J.: A highly resistant thermophilic organism" Journal of Bacteriology 1920; 5, 373–374.
  4. PMID 11321089
    .
  5. PMID 16401354
    .
  6. PMID 23697550
    .
  7. PMID 27819661
    .

External links


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