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SYNOPTIC DESCRIPTION OF THE PHYLUM CRENARCHAEOTA

SYNOPTIC DESCRIPTION OF THE PHYLUM CRENARCHAEOTA

ARCHAEA> CRENARCHAEA> CRENARCHAEOTA
PHYLUM CRENARCHAEOTA LINKS

Description of Phylum

Hierarchical Classification

The following description of the phylum Crenarchaeota comes from Brock et al. (1994), Margulis and Schwartz (1998), Garrity et al. (2001 and 2003), and Black (2002).
  • I. SYNONYMS: Extreme thermophiles, or sulfur-dependent archaebacteria.
  • II. PHYLUM CHARACTERISTICS:
    • A. Structure
      • Cell Form: Rods, discs, cocci, filaments.
      • Cell Wall: Not rigid; 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: Non-motile.
    • B. Physiology
      • O2 TOLERANCE: Most are strict anaerobes; 2 are aerobic (text with tooltip) Aerobes is derived from Greek terms aero (air) and bios (life). Aerobes (n) are those bacteria that require free oxygen for metabolism. .
      • Substrates: Facultative chemoautotrophs (lithotrophs) using elemental sulfur as an energy source. Others are heterotrophic and oxidize organic compounds in the presence of oxygen or sulfur. Some can ferment organic compounds (to CO2 and fatty acids).
      • Products: The lithotrophic organisms produce H2SO4, Fe2(SO4), and H2S. The heterotrophic species produce CO2, H2S, and fatty acids.
    • C. Other: They are the most thermophilic (text with tooltip) Thermophiles are organisms (usually bacteria) that have thermal optima of 45C or higher. of all known bacteria. They have cholesterol (and perhaps other sterols) associated with the membranes.
    • D. Ecology: They grow in hot, sulfur-rich environments, called Solfatara. Such environments include hot sulfur springs which are mildly to very acidic; 60-110C. They also include submarine volcanic vents.
LITERATURE CITED

Black, J. G. 2002. Microbiology, Principles and Explorations. 5th ed. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. New York.

Gao, B. and R. S. Gupta. 2007. Phylogenetic analysis of proteins that are distinctive of Archaea and its main subgroups and the origin of methanogenesis. BMC Genomics. 8:86. http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/8/86.

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.

Margulis, L. and K. Schwartz. 1988. Five kingdoms, an illustrated guide to the phyla of life on earth. 2nd Edition. W. H. Freeman and Co. New York.

Margulis, L. and K. Schwartz. 1998. Five kingdoms, an illustrated guide to the phyla of life on earth. 3rd Edition. W. H. Freeman and Co. New York.

Woese, C. R. and G. E. Fox. 1977. Phylogenetic structure of the prokaryotic domain: the primary kingdoms. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. 74:5088-5090.

Woese, C. R., O. Kandler, and M. L. Wheelis. 1990. Towards a natural system of organisms: Proposal for the domains Archaea, Bacteria, and Eucarya. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 87: 4576-4579.
By Jack R. Holt. Last revised: 02/11/2013
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