CLONING AND SEQUENCING OF A GENE ENCODING 16S RIBOSOMAL-RNA FROM A NOVEL HYPERTHERMOPHILIC ARCHAEBACTERIUM NC12

A hyperthermophile NC12 was newly isolated from Noboribetsu hot spring . To characterize this organism, a gene coding for 16S rRNA was cloned and sequenced. The 16S rRNA sequence from NC12 shows the highest simi larity with those from Pyrodictium occultum and Desulfurococcus mobili s among the sequences in the database, indicating that NC12 belongs to a cluster of extreme thermophiles (Crenarchaeota) in the archaeal dom ain. However, since the highest identity score was only 91.2%, it is s uggested that NC12 may constitute a new genus.