Microbial Diversity of Terrestrial Geothermal Springs in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh: A Review.

The microbial diversity of high-altitude geothermal springs has been recently assessed to explore their biotechnological potential. However, little is known regarding the microbiota of similar ecosystems located on the Armenian Highland. This review summarizes the known information on the microbiota of nine high-altitude mineralized geothermal springs (temperature range 25.

Characteristics of DNA polymerase I from an extreme thermophile, Thermus scotoductus strain K1.

Several native and engineered heat-stable DNA polymerases from a variety of sources are used as powerful tools in different molecular techniques, including polymerase chain reaction, medical diagnostics, DNA sequencing, biological diversity assessments, and in vitro mutagenesis. The DNA polymerase from the extreme thermophile, Thermus scotoductus strain K1, (TsK1) was expressed in Escherichia coli, purified, and characterized. This enzyme belongs to a distinct phylogenetic clade, different from the commonly used DNA polymerase I enzymes, including those from Thermus aquaticus and Thermus thermophilus.

Draft Genome Sequence of Thermus scotoductus Strain K1, Isolated from a Geothermal Spring in Karvachar, Nagorno Karabakh.

The 2,379,636-bp draft genome sequence of Thermus scotoductus strain K1, isolated from geothermal spring outlet located in the Karvachar region in Nagorno Karabakh is presented. Strain K1 shares about 80% genome sequence similarity with T. scotoductus strain SA-01, recovered from a deep gold mine in South Africa.