An extracellular [NiFe] hydrogenase mediating iron corrosion is encoded in a genetically unstable genomic island in Methanococcus maripaludis.

Certain methanogens deteriorate steel surfaces through a process called microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC). However, the mechanisms of MIC, whereby methanogens oxidize zerovalent iron (Fe), are largely unknown. In this study, Fe-corroding Methanococcus maripaludis strain OS7 and its derivative (strain OS7mut1) defective in Fe-corroding activity were isolated.

Development of a smell identification test using a novel stick-type odor presentation kit.

The odor identification is strongly influenced by the social and cultural factors; therefore, the odorants used in a smell identification test should be familiar to the test population. In addition, the device used in the test is desired to be simply handled and retain odor quality over time. We developed a novel stick-type odor presentation kit that consists of microcapsules of odorant incorporated into stable cream and the smell identification test using it.

Proteome analysis of an aerobic hyperthermophilic crenarchaeon, Aeropyrum pernix K1.

We analyzed the proteome of a crenararchaeon, Aeropyrum pernix K1, by using the following four methods: (i) two-dimensional PAGE followed by MALDI-TOF MS, (ii) one-dimensional SDS-PAGE in combination with two-dimensional LC-MS/MS, (iii) multidimensional LC-MS/MS, and (iv) two-dimensional PAGE followed by amino-terminal amino acid sequencing. These methods were found to be complementary to each other, and biases in the data obtained in one method could largely be compensated by the data obtained in the other methods. Consequently a total of 704 proteins were successfully identified, 134 of which were unique to A.