SYNOPTIC DESCRIPTION OF THE KINGDOM THERMOTOGAE AND ITS SINGLE PHYLUM THERMOTOGOBACTERIA (BOTH NAMES DERIVED FROM MARGULIS AND SCHWARTZ 1998)
| EUBACTERIA> PROTEOBACTERIAE> THERMOTOGAE> THERMOBACTERIA |
KINGDOM THERMOTOGAE LINKS
| The following description comes mainly from Margulis and Schwartz (1998), Barnes (1984b), Brock et al. (1994), and Tudge (2000). |
I. SYNONYMS: Thermophilic fermenters
II. PHYLUM CHARACTERISTICS:
- A. Structure
- Cell Form: Unicellular rods (text with tooltip) A rod is an elongate cell form such that it has distinct ends (called poles). .
- Cell Wall: Gram- (text with tooltip) A Gram - cell loses the blue-black crystal-violet color following destaining with alcohol during the Gram Stain procedure. Then, it takes on the color of the counterstain, typically iodine. .
- Motility: With polar flagella (text with tooltip) Polar flagella are those that emerge from the poles of the cell (rods or spirals). .
- B. Physiology
- O2 Tolerance: Strict anaerobes (text with tooltip) An obligate anaerobe is a cell that is poisoned in the presence of free oxygen. .
- Substrates: Fermenters of sugars, proteins, and other organic compounds. Aquifex oxidizes H2, S0, or thiosulfate with O2 (microaerophilic) or NO3-.
- Products:
- C. Other: Some are covered with a “toga”.
- D. Ecology: Very heat-resistant. In deep ocean vents and hot springs. Some occur at temperatures in excess of 90C.
| LITERATURE CITED Barnes, R. S. K. 1984b. Kingdom Monera. IN: Barnes, R.S.K., ed. A synoptic classification of living organisms. Sinauer Associates. Sunderland, Mass. Black, J. G. 2002. Microbiology, Principles and Explorations. 5th ed. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. New York. Brock, T. D., M.T. Madigan, J.M. Martinko, and J. Parker. 1994. Biology of Microorganisms. 7th ed. Prentice Hall. Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Deckert, G., P. V. Warren, T. Gaasterland, W. G. Young, A. L. Lenox, D. E. Graham, R. Overbeek, M. A. Snead, M. Keller, M. Aujay, R. Huber, R. A. Feldman, J. M. Short, G. J. Olsen, and R. V. Swanson. 1998. The complete genome of the hyperthermophilic bacterium Aquifex aeolicus. Nature. 392: 353-363. Garrity, G. M., M. Winters, and D. Searles. 2001. Bergey’s manual of systematic bacteriology. 2nd ed. Springer-Verlag. New York. Garrity, G. M., J. A. Bell, and T. G. Lilburn. 2003. Taxonomic Outline of the Prokaryotes. Bergey’s Manual of Systematic Bacteriology. 2nd edition. Release 4.0. Springer-Verlag. New York. pp. 1-397. Huber, R., T. Wilharm, D. Huber, A., Trincone, A., S. Burggraf, H. König, R. Rachel, I. Rockinger, H. Fricke, and K. O. Stetter. 1992. Aquifex pyrophilus gen. nov. sp. nov., represents a novel group of marine hyperthermophilic hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria. Syst. Appl. Microbiol. 15: 340–351. Margulis, L. and K. Schwartz. 1998. Five kingdoms, an illustrated guide to the phyla of life on earth. 3nd Edition. W. H. Freeman and Co. New York. Reysenbach, L., G. S. Wickham, and N. R. Pace. 1994. Phylogenetic analysis of the hyperthermophilic pink filament community in Octopus Spring, Yellowstone National Park. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 60: 2113–2119. Setchell, W. A. 1903. The upper temperature limits of life. Science. 17: 934–937. Sulzenbacher, G., C. Bignon, T. Nishimura, C. A. Tarling, S. G. Withers, B. Henrissat, and Y. Bourne. 2004. Crystal structure of Thermatoga maritima α-l-Fucosidase, insights into the catalytic mechanism and the molecular basis for fucosidosis. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 279: 13119-13128. Tudge, C. 2000. The Variety of Life, A Survey and a Celebration of all the Creatures That Have Ever Lived. Oxford University Press. New York. |
| By Jack R. Holt. Last revised: 02/15/2015 |
