Carboxydothermus hydrogenoformans

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Carboxydothermus hydrogenoformans
Electron micrograph of endospore of the bacterium Carboxydothermus hydrogenoformans.png
Endospore of C. hydrogenoformans
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Bacteria
Kingdom: Bacillati
Phylum: Bacillota
Class: Clostridia
Order: Carboxydothermales
Family: Carboxydothermaceae
Genus: Carboxydothermus
Species:
C. hydrogenoformans
Binomial name
Carboxydothermus hydrogenoformans
Svetlichny 1991

Carboxydothermus hydrogenoformans is an extremely thermophilic anaerobic Gram-positive bacterium that has the interesting property of producing hydrogen as a waste product while feeding on carbon monoxide and water. It also forms endospores.

It was isolated from a hot spring on the Russian volcanic island of Kunashir by Svetlichny et al. in 1991. [1] Its complete genome was sequenced in 2005 by a team of scientists of the Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR). [2]

According to TIGR evolutionary biologist Jonathan Eisen, "C. hydrogenoformans is one of the fastest-growing microbes that can convert water and carbon monoxide to hydrogen." The microbe owes this to the fact that it has at least five different forms of carbon monoxide dehydrogenase. [2]

References

  1. Svetlichny, V.A.; Sokolova, T.G.; Gerhardt, M.; Ringpfeil, M.; Kostrikina, N.A.; Zavarzin, G.A. (1991). "Carboxydothermus hydrogenoformans gen. nov., sp. nov., a CO-utilizing Thermophilic Anaerobic Bacterium from Hydrothermal Environments of Kunashir Island". Systematic and Applied Microbiology. 14 (3): 254–260. doi:10.1016/S0723-2020(11)80377-2.
  2. 1 2 Wu, M.; Ren, Q.; Durkin, A. S.; Daugherty, S. C.; Brinkac, L. M.; Dodson, R. J.; Madupu, R.; Sullivan, S. A.; Kolonay, J. F.; Haft, W. C.; Nelson, L. J.; Tallon, K. M.; Jones, L. E.; Ulrich, J. M.; Gonzalez, I. B.; Zhulin, F. T.; Robb, J. A.; Eisen, J. A. (2005). "Life in Hot Carbon Monoxide: The Complete Genome Sequence of Carboxydothermus hydrogenoformans Z-2901". PLOS Genetics. 1 (5): e65. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.0010065 . PMC   1287953 . PMID   16311624.