Sydney, Nov 1 (IANS) Researchers have managed to recreate a billion-year-old bacterial enzyme and then trace its evolution through history, down to the modern day.
Vic Arcus, associate professor, and Jo Hobbs, research scientist at the University of Waikato (New Zealand) have used new computational techniques to coax modern bugs into making these ancient proteins for them, creating a billion-year-old bacillus bacteria enzyme.
‘We’ve been able to make a billion-year-old protein enzyme that actually works in the lab,’ says researcher Jo Hobbs, the Journal of Molecular Biology and Evolution reports.
‘The billion-year-old enzyme is from a pre-cambrian ancestor of a modern bacterium called bacillus,’ explains Arcus, according to a Waikato statement.
‘To our surprise, the ancient enzyme is very stable at high temperatures and very, very active – seven times more active than a comparable modern enzyme.’
‘This means that the bacillus ancestor most probably lived in a hot, inhospitable environment a billion years ago,’ Arcus added.
Along with the billion-year-old enzyme, the team created enzymes that trace the evolution of the organisms from one billion years ago to the present day.
They tested the optimal operating temperature of each enzyme to get an insight into the changing temperate of the environment of the bacteria over time.
‘The optimum temperature of the billion-year-old organism is 70 degrees. But during the evolution of these bacteria, they have adapted to cooling temperatures,’ Arcus said.
Today we find Bacillus bacteria in nearly every possible environment – hot pools, garden soil, cool lakes, even in Antarctica,’ Arcus added.
