Caldisphaera
From MicrobeWiki, the student-edited microbiology resource
A Microbial Biorealm page on the genus Caldisphaera
Contents |
Classification
Higher order taxa
Archaea; Crenarchaeota; Thermoprotei; Caldisphaerales; Caldisphaeraceae
Species
Caldisphaera lagunensis
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NCBI: Taxonomy Genome |
Description and significance
Caldisphaera ("a hot spherical cell") is a non-motile thermoacidophilic archaeon that grows anaerobically and heterotrophically. It is non-motile and grows at 45-80°C with the optimum temperature at 70-75°C and in the pH range of 2.3-5.4 (optimum = 3.5-4.0).
Genome structure
Currently there are no genome project being done for the archaeon. The G + C content of its DNA is found to be 31%.
Cell structure and metabolism
The cells of Caldisphaera are regular cocci with diameter of 0.8-1.1µm. They usually occur singly or in pairs.
The organism utilizes starch, glycogen, gelatin, beef extract, yeast extract, and peptone as carbon and energy sources, and its growth is stimulated by the presence of sulfur (reduced to hydrogen sulfide) as an electron acceptor. However, it is unable to utilize D-arabinose, D-fructose, D-galactose, D-glucose, lactose, maltose, mannose, D-ribose, sucrose, D-xylose, acetate, butyrate, citrate, formate, fumarate, lactate, L-malate, propionate, Pyruvate, succinate, methanol, formamide, methylamine, and trimethylamine.
Ecology
The strains of the organism were isolated from a hot spring named "Mud Spring" on the side of Mt. Maquiling, Philippines.
