Archaea Genomes - SULFOLOBUS SOLFATARICUS

Sulfolobus solfataricus is a thermophile, one of the single-celled organisms that belong to the group archaea. They grow optimally at 80C and can be found in sulfur-rich, acidic environments with pH values from 2-4. They can grow either litoautotrophically by oxidising sulphur or chemoheterotrophically on reduced carbon compounds. The sequenced P2 strain was isolated from a sulphur hot spring near Naples, Italy.

Sulfolobus has been a model organism for investigating DNA replication, the cell cycle, chromosomal integration, transcription, RNA processing, and translation. Archaea survive on sulphur, hydrogen, and other materials that cannot be metabolised by animals, plants, and bacteria.

Evidence indicates that there has been much lateral gene transfer between Sulfolobus solfataricus and Thermoplasma, a phylogenetically distant thermoacidophilic archaeon inhabiting the same environment.

References:

http://jura.ebi.ac.uk:8765/ext-genequiz/genomes/ss0105/
http://genomenewsnetwork.org/articles/07_01/Sulfolobus.shtml
http://iacs5.ucsd.edu/~mmogri/bio/gapdh/