A set of related questions:
Can anyone point me to a review article on (acquired) thermotolerance and
heat shock in bacteria? I haven't found anything recent.
When examining heat-shock response, researchers tend to measure the
increased resistance of an organism to exposure to a lethal temperature.
But does the maximum temperature for growth of a heat-shocked organism
also increase? can it grow slightly faster at temperatures towards the
upper end of its range once heat-shocked? are there any reports of the
temperature optimum shifting?
I've only seen one instance of this, in the abstract of a paper about
Chlorella, of all things, where growth at 45'C became possible after HS.
Third: a very vague question. Is there a readily discernible link between
genetic distance (as measured by 16S sequence similarity, say) and
temperature relations? I imagine this depends what bacterial group we're
talking about. How about alpha, beta or gamma Proteobacteria? Are there
examples of very closely related organisms which differ substantially in
their temperature maxima?
Fourth: which researchers are currently examining the differences between
mesophilic organisms and their closest thermophilic or thermotolerant
relatives?
Thanks in advance for any pointers or helpful discussion,
Peter.
--
Department of Biological Sciences.
University of Waikato, Hamilton,
New Zealand.
pjc at waikato.ac.nz
