Thermotoga maritima MSB8 RefSeq Genome. Thermotoga maritima MSB8

Thermotoga maritima strain MSB8. This hyperthermophilic organism was originally isolated from a geothermal marine area near Vulcano, Italy. Strain MSB8 is the type strain. It is representative of a very deep branch of eubacteria and a very large portion of the genome, 24% of all ORFs, is similar to archaeal genes, suggesting horizontal gene transfer, a hypothesis supported by the fact that many regions of the chromosome containing these genes have a significantly different composition as compared to the rest of the genome. This organism appears to live in a rich environment as it encodes a large number of transporters, both for import and export, of complex substrates such as carbohydrates, including a type II secretion system that may be used to export extracellular enzymes for degradation of biopolymers.