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An extremophile is an organism that is able to live in extreme environments, i.e. environments that make survival challenging such as due to extreme temperature, radiation, salinity, or pH level.
Aquifex pyrophilus is a gram-negative, non-spore forming, rod-shaped bacteria. It is one of a handful of species in the Aquificota phylum, which are a group of thermophilic bacteria that are found near underwater volcanoes or hot springs.
Methanococcus is a genus of coccoid methanogens of the family Methanococcaceae. They are all mesophiles, except the thermophilic M. thermolithotrophicus and the hyperthermophilic M. jannaschii. The latter was discovered at the base of a “white smoker” chimney at 21°N on the East Pacific Rise and it was the first archaeal genome to be completely sequenced, revealing many novel and eukaryote-like elements.
In taxonomy, Thermococcus is a genus of thermophilic Archaea in the family the Thermococcaceae.
Caldococcus is a genus of Archaea in the order Desulfurococcales.
Thermococcus litoralis is a species of Archaea that is found around deep-sea hydrothermal vents as well as shallow submarine thermal springs and oil wells. It is an anaerobic organotroph hyperthermophile that is between 0.5–3.0 μm (20–118 μin) in diameter. Like the other species in the order thermococcales, T. litoralis is an irregular hyperthermophile coccus that grows between 55–100 °C (131–212 °F). Unlike many other thermococci, T. litoralis is non-motile. Its cell wall consists only of a single S-layer that does not form hexagonal lattices. Additionally, while many thermococcales obligately use sulfur as an electron acceptor in metabolism, T. litoralis only needs sulfur to help stimulate growth, and can live without it. T. litoralis has recently been popularized by the scientific community for its ability to produce an alternative DNA polymerase to the commonly used Taq polymerase. The T. litoralis polymerase, dubbed the vent polymerase, has been shown to have a lower error rate than Taq but due to its proofreading 3’–5’ exonuclease abilities.
Archaea is a domain of single-celled organisms. These microorganisms lack cell nuclei and are therefore prokaryotes. Archaea were initially classified as bacteria, receiving the name archaebacteria, but this term has fallen out of use.
Thermococcus celer is a Gram-negative, spherical-shaped archaeon of the genus Thermococcus. The discovery of T. celer played an important role in rerooting the tree of life when T. celer was found to be more closely related to methanogenic Archaea than to other phenotypically similar thermophilic species. T. celer was the first archaeon discovered to house a circularized genome. Several type strains of T. celer have been identified: Vu13, ATCC 35543, and DSM 2476.
Thermococcus gammatolerans is an archaea extremophile and the most radiation-resistant organism known to exist.
Thermococcus kodakarensis is a species of thermophilic archaea. The type strain T. kodakarensis KOD1 is one of the best-studied members of the genus.
Pyrococcus abyssi is a hyperthermophilic archaeon isolated from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent in the North Fiji Basin at 2,000 metres (6,600 ft). It is anaerobic, sulfur-metabolizing, gram-negative, coccus-shaped and highly motile. Its optimum growth temperature is 96 °C (205 °F). Its type strain is GE5. Pyrococcus abyssi has been used as a model organism in studies of DNA polymerase. This species can also grow at high cell densities in bioreactors.
Thermotoga petrophila is a hyperthermophilic, anaerobic, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped, fermentative heterotroph, with type strain RKU-1T. T. petrophila was first discovered and isolated from an oil reservoir off of the coast of Japan and was deemed genetically distinct from its sister clades. Because these organism are found in deep, hot aquatic settings, they have become of great interest for biotechnology due to their enzymes functioning at high temperatures and pressures.
Thermococcus profundus is a hyperthermophilic archaeon isolated from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent. It is coccoid-shaped with 1–2 μm in diameter, designated as strain DT5432.
Thermococcus chitonophagus is a chitin-degrading, hyperthermophilic archaeon isolated from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent. It is anaerobic, round to slightly irregular coccus-shaped, 1.2–2.5 μm in diameter, and motile by means of a tuft of flagella.
Thermococcus stetteri is an extremely thermophilic, marine, sulfur-metabolizing archaebacterium. It is anaerobic, its cells being irregular cocci 1 to 2 μm in diameter. Of the strains first isolated, two were motile due to a tuft of flagella, while the other two strains were nonmotile. Its type strain is K-3. It can grow on starch, pectin, and peptides, but not amino acids.
Thermococcus barophilus is a piezophilic and hyperthermophilic archaeon isolated from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent. It is anaerobic and sulfur-metabolising, with type strain MPT.
Thermococcus peptonophilus is a fast-growing hyperthermophilic archaeon. It is coccus-shaped, obligately anaerobic and about 0.7–2 μm in diameter. It is a strict anaerobe and grows exclusively on complex substrates, such as peptone, casein, tryptone, and yeast extract. It cannot use carbon dioxide as a source of carbon. Although it can grow somewhat in the absence of elemental sulfur, it prefers sulfur.
Thermococcus hydrothermalis is a hyperthermophilic archaeon. It is strictly anaerobic and coccus-shaped, and its cells range from 0.8 to 2.0 μm in diameter, with type strain AL662T. It was isolated from a hydrothermal vent in the East Pacific Rise. This species is notable for its α-glucosidase, which functions optimally at a temperature of 110 °C.
Arthrobacter globiformis is a Gram-positive bacterium species from the genus of Arthrobacter.
References
- ↑ Keller, Martin; Braun, Franz-Josef; Dirmeier, Reinhard; Hafenbradl, Doris; Burggraf, Siegfried; Rachel, Reinhard; Stetter, Karl O. (1995). "Thermococcus alcaliphilus sp. nov., a new hyperthermophilic archaeum growing on polysulfide at alkaline pH". Archives of Microbiology. 164 (6): 390–395. doi:10.1007/BF02529736. ISSN 0302-8933. PMID 8588740. S2CID 31106349.
