Pyrococcus furiosus

Pyrococcus furiosus is an extremophilic species of Archaea. It is notable for having an optimum growth temperature of 100ºC (a temperature which would destroy most living organisms), and for being one of the few organisms identified as possessing enzymes containing tungsten, an element rarely found in biological molecules.

Properties
Pyrococcus furiosus is noted for its rapid doubling time of 37 minutes under optimal conditions. It appears as mostly regular cocci of 0.8 µm to 1.5 µm diameter with monopolar polytrichous flagellation. It grows between 70 ºC and 103 ºC, with an optimum temperature of 100 ºC, and between pH 5 and 9 (with an optimum at pH 7). It grows well on yeast extract, maltose, cellobiose, β-glucans, starch, and protein sources (tryptone, peptone, casein and meat extracts). Growth is very slow, or nonexistent, on amino acids, organic acids, alcohols, and most carbohydrates (including glucose, fructose, lactose and galactose).

The ability to grow on polysaccharides (maltose, cellobiose, starch) but not on the monomeric sugars suggests that oligosaccharides with various degrees of polymerization may be imported into the cell, and only afterwards hydrolyzed to glucose.

Uses
The enzymes of Pyrococcus furiosus are extremely thermostable. Consequently DNA Polymerase from Pyrococcus furiosus, are often used in the Polymerase Chain Reaction, with the relevant enzyme known as Pfu.

Discovery
Pyrococcus furiosus was originally isolated anaerobically from geothermally heated marine sediments with temperatures between 90 ºC and 100 ºC collected at the beach of Porto Levante, Vulcano Island, Italy. It was first described by Dr. Karl Stetter of the University of Regensburg in Germany, and a colleague, Dr. Gerhard Fiala.

Genome
The sequencing of the complete genome of Pyrococcus furiosus was completed in 2001 by scientists at the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute The Maryland team found that the genome had 1,908 kilobases, coding for some 2,065 proteins.

The extremophile's scientific name
The name Pyrococcus means "fireberry" in Greek, to refer to the extremophile's round shape and ability to grow in temperatures of around 100 degrees Celsius. The species name furiosus means 'rushing' in Latin, and refers to the extremophile's doubling time.