Figure 4.

CODEHOP-based PCR for the amplification of the putative genes copA and copM from S. metallicus. Amplification products, (a) using degenerate PCR primers (DOP) copM_degF and copM_degR designed from amino acid sequence conserved blocks of Sulfolobales CopM proteins, (b) using primers copA_cdegF and copA_cdegR designed by CODEHOP strategy for amplification of a copA-like gene. (c) Primers copM_degF and copA_cdegR were assesed for the amplification of a copMA-like DNA region. Those primers were tested with genomic S. metallicus DNA samples. Amplicons expected sizes were as follows: ca. 150 bp for copM, ca. 950 bp for copA, and ca. 2,000 bp for copMA. PCR products were excised and cloned for later sequencing.