Deoxyribonucleic acid polymerase from the extreme thermophile Thermus aquaticus.

The authors showed that the heat resistant bacteria Thermus aquaticus discovered by Thomas Brock contained a vital polymerase enzyme that had
evolved in this bacteria to allow it to metabolize and survive in exceptionally high temperatures.

Roughly 10 years after this discovery its implications for molecular biology and biotechnology were recognized. According to Paul Rabinow, Making PCR (1996) “By June 1986 the Taq [Thermus aquaticus] Polymerase had been purified” in Kerry Mullis's lab and became a key element in the polymerase chain reaction.

(Thanks to Juan Weiss for this entry and its interpretation.)