Analysis of archaeal viruses infecting hyperthermophilic archaea

Research Project

Project/Area Number	23651208
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	Applied genomics
Research Institution	Nihon University
Principal Investigator	YOSHIMUNE Kazuaki 日本大学, 生産工学部, 准教授 (50325700)
Project Period (FY)	2011 – 2012
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2012)
Budget Amount *help	¥1,560,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥360,000) Fiscal Year 2012: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000) Fiscal Year 2011: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000)
Keywords	古細菌 / 超好熱古細菌 / 高温温泉 / アーキウィルス / ウィルス DNA / クローンライブラリ / DNAシーケンス解析
Research Abstract	Archaea belongs to a major domain of life which is distinct from Eukaryota and Eubacteria. Some unique enzymes from Archaea are applied for biotechnology. Since useful enzymes for gene manipulation often derived from viruses, archaeal viruses may have these useful enzymes. However, only a few viruses infecting archaea are reported, especially those infecting hyperthermophilic archaea are scarcely reported. Here, viruses infecting hyperthermophilic archaea are collected from hot springs having temperatures of more than 80?C where hyperthermophilic archaea are living. Hot spring water having temperatures of near 100 ?C in Beppu, Atagawa and Toyako was collected. The obtained water was filtered with 0.22 μm filters and impurities were removed. Viruses in the water were concentrated with 50kDa-filters. DNA was extracted and purified with protease treatment and phenol/chloroform extraction. The purified DNA was subcloned and the DNA sequences were determined to analyze their function.