NEW YORK, Sept. 25 - Diversa and Celera have completed sequencing the genome of Pyrolobus fumarii , an extemophile that lives in very high temperatures.
The organism, which survives on inorganic chemicals, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide, grows at temperatures between 90 degrees celsius and 113 degrees celsius, the highest temperature ever recorded for an organism.
Diversa said that is expects that an understanding of the genetic components of this heat-tolerant organism could lead to the development of improved animal feed additives, agricultural product processing enzymes, and industrial and consumer product enzymes.
Diversa of San Diego is currently working to develop such products through joint venture with Syngenta and The Dow Chemical Company.
The P. fumarii genome, which was first found in a hydrothermal vent located beneath the earth's crust in the mid-Atlantic ridge, is 1.85 million base pairs in length and contains approximately 2,000 genes, Diversa said.
Diversa said that the genes of P. fumarii appear dissimilar to genes from eubacteria and archaea, a factor that scientists hope will contribute to the finding of novel gene products.
In December of last year Diversa and Celera penned a multi-year, cross-royaltycollaboration to sequence the genomes of selected, uncultured microorganisms contained in Diversa environmental libraries. In February, the companies completed their first sequencing project, the Streptomyces diversa genome.