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Efficient molecular cloning of environmental DNA from geothermal sediments

Wilkinson, Dianne E.; Jaenicke, Thomas; Cowan, Donald A. (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2002)

An efficient and simple method for constructing an environmental library using mechanically sheared DNA obtained directly from geothermal sediments is presented. The method is based on blunt-end modification of DNA fragments ...

Dissemination and survival of non-indigenous bacterial genomes in pristine Antarctic environments.

Ah Tow, Lemese; Cowan, Donald A. (Springer Verlag, 2005)

Continental Antarctic is perceived as a largely pristine environment, although certain localized regions (e.g., parts of the Ross Dependency Dry Valleys) are relatively heavy impacted by human activities. The procedures ...

High 16S rDNA bacterial diversity in glacial meltwater lake sediment, Bratina Island, Antarctica

Sjoling, Sara; Cowan, Donald A. (Springer Verlag, 2003)

The microbial diversity in maritime meltwater pond sediments from Bratina Island, Ross Sea, Antarctica was investigated by 16S rDNA-dependent molecular phylogeny. Investigations of the vertical distribution, phylogenetic ...

The search for the ideal biocatalyst

Burton, Stephanie G.; Cowan, Donald A.; Woodley, John M. (Nature Publishing Group, 2002)

While the use of enzymes as biocatalysts to assist in the industrial manufacture of fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals has enormous potential, application is frequently limited by evolution-led catalyst traits. The advent ...

The upper temperature for life – where do we draw the line?

Cowan, Donald A. (Elsevier, 2004)

The newly isolated hyperthermophilic archaeal strain 121 grows slowly at 121 8C and even survives short periods at 130 8C. This is another organism that grows best at temperatures well in excess of 100 8C! We should not ...

Non-specificity of Staphylococcus generic primers

Ah Tow, Lemese; Cowan, Donald A. (Society for General Microbiology, 2003)

Our results allow us to conclude that there appears to be significant conservation between the tuf genes of Planococcus, Planomicrobium and Staphylococcus spp., and that although the primer set TstaG422/TStag765 has ...

16 S rDNA primers and the unbiased assessment of thermophile diversity

Baker, Gillian; Cowan, Donald A. (Portland Press, 2004)

Our understanding of thermophile diversity is based predominantly on PCR studies of community DNA. ‘Universal’ and domain-specific rRNA gene PCR primers have historically been used for the assessment of microbial diversity ...

Metagenomics, gene discovery and the ideal biocatalyst

Cowan, Donald A.; Arslanoglu, A.; Burton, Stephanie G.; Cameron, Rory A.; Baker, Gillian; Smith, Jacques J.; Meyer, Quinton (Portland Press, 2004)

With the rapid development of powerful protein evolution and enzyme-screening technologies, there is a growing belief that optimum conditions for biotransformation processes can be established without the constraints of ...

Review and re-analysis of domain-specific 16S primers

Baker, Gillian; Smith, Jacques J.; Cowan, Donald A. (Elsevier, 2003)

The Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) has facilitated the detection of unculturable microorganisms in virtually any environmental source and has thus been used extensively in the assessment of environmental microbial diversity. ...

Antarctic Dry Valley mineral soils contain unexpectedly high levels of microbial biomass

Cowan, Donald A.; Mamais, A.; Russell, Nick A.; Sheppard, Devon M. (Springer Verlag, 2002)

We have applied bioluminescent ATP detection methods to microbial enumeration in Antarctic Dry Valley mineral soils, and validated our ATP data by two independent methods. We have demonstrated that ATP measurement is ...