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| Welcome
to the Institute of Microbiology
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Prof.
Dr. Michael Thomm Universität
Regensburg Sekretary |
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| Overview
about the different working groups on the institute
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So far, three domains of life are known: the Eucarya, the Bacteria and the Archaea. Almost all of the cultivated Archaea have been isolated from extreme environments, often characterized by volcanic activity. However, through the use of the 16S subunit RNA as a molecular marker, uncultivated Archaea have recently been discovered frequently in moderate temperature environments e.g. oceans, lakes or soils. We are working on the identification, isolation and characterisation of novel Archaea and Bacteria, including ultrastructure and molecular biology, especially transcription studies. To obtain microbial cell material, the isolates are grown at large scale in our fermentation plant. |
Research in our laboratory showed that the archaeal transcription complex is very similar to the structure of the RNA polymerase II complex found in Eukarya. The interactions between the different subunits of the archaeal complex are studied in a project, together with the interactions of the transcription complex with promoter DNA. |
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A
second project studies the transcriptional regulation of Pyrococcus. |
The development and application of novel molecular identification methods allows the microbial analysis of high temperature ecosystems. For the fast and reliable isolation und subsequent growth of single cells from mixed cultures, a plating independent isolation method, based on the use of a laser microscope (“optical tweezers”), was developed. |
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In a further project, investigations on the recently discovered novel
archaeal phylum of the “Nanoarchaeota” are carried out.
The only cultivated representative of this phylum so far, Nanoarchaeum
equitans, exhibits a cell diameter of only 400 nm and is therefore
the smallest living cell known (about 100 times smaller than an E.
coli cell). We study the physiology, biochemistry and genetics of
this obligate hyperthermophilic symbiont / parasite in association
with its host Ignicoccus. |
In
der Arbeitsgruppe "Elektronenmikroskopie" wird der Aufbau
der Zellen und Zellhüllen von Ignicoccus und Nanoarchaeum untersucht.
Diese beiden hyperthermophilen Archaeen werden zusammen in einer Kultur
gezüchtet und bilden dabei einen unmittelbaren Kontakt zwischen
den Zellen aus. Ziel der Untersuchungen ist das Verständnis der
strukturellen und molekularen Details dieser Zell-Zell-Interaktion.
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A project looking for motility organelles of archaea was started recently.
These flagella differ in their ultra structure and probably also their
mode of synthesis from flagella of eubacteria. We plan to analyse archaeal
flagella directly by fluorescence labelling – first results show
that such an approach works at least for Pyrococcus furiosus. Our ultimate
goal is the in situ visualization of archaeal flagella (e.g. at 95°
C under anaerobic conditions) to study their mechanism of motion, their
mode of synthesis, … |
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the Biotechnikum of the Archaeenzentrum we use 11 different bioreactors
(fermenters) in varios sizes, ranging from 7 to 300 lithres working
capacity for the mass cultivation of microorganisms. These fermenters
are especially constructed for the cultivation of Archaea and other
high temperature microbes. Their natural terrestrial or marine volcanic
can be simulated to produce large amounts of cell masses. |
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