Why Sequence the Pompeii Worm?
One of the most thermophilic eukaryotes, Alvinella pompejana, the Pompeii worm, is a resident of the Pacific deep-sea hydrothermal vent area. These worms reside on black smoker chimneys 2500 meters under the ocean surface where they experience (1) the highest temperatures and temperature gradients known for any eukaryote (20-80°C), (2) a toxic soup of heavy metals, and (3) very low pH. Thus their environment is perhaps the most extreme known for any eukaryote. This project unites cDNA sequencing, which is crucial for genetic and protein analysis, with macromolecular structure determination by x-ray crystallography, solution small-angle x-ray scattering, and electron microscopy. Proteins from thermophilic sources, currently limited to unicellular bacteria and archaea, have proven to be quite stable and amenable to the latter types of biophysical characterizations. However, bacteria and archaea are missing homologs of human proteins involved in regulation of the cell cycle, the immune sy
