Bacillus infernus

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A Microbial Biorealm page on the genus Bacillus infernus

Classification

Higher order taxa

Bacteria; Firmicutes; Bacilli; Bacillales; Bacillaceae; Bacillus

Species

Bacillus infernus, a hyperthermophile, found 2.65-2.77 km beneath the Earth's surface. Photo courtesy of US Department of Energy- Subsurface Microbial Collection.

Thin-section electron micrograph of Bacillus infernus, sp. nov., isolated from ca. 2.7 km below land surface in the Taylorsville Basin. These new species proposed by D. R. Boone et al. (1995) are thermophilic, halotolerant, and Fe(III)- and Mn(IV)-reducing anaerobes. Photo from http://geoweb.princeton.edu/research/geomicrobio/bacteria.html

Tests with B. infernus reveal that the bacterium easily consumes and destroys Andromeda because of Andromeda's sulfur structure....SCIENTIFIC?? NO!!! BUT FUN?? YES!!! Photo from Wikipedia.

Bacillus infernus

Nonmotile rods (including possible yet unconfirmed endospores) inhabiting the deep terrestrial subsurface of the Taylorsville, Virginia Triassic Basin. The organism is thermophilic, halotolerant, and slightly alkaliphilic. B. infernus is important because it can affect geochemical processes including transport of toxic chemicals similar to other subsurface microorganisms. B. infernus also possesses a “novel” metabolism perhaps useful in future bioremediation of the environment, biotechnology, and industry.

Entire genome not sequenced yet. The chromosomes of B. infernus are linear. 16S rDNA partial sequencing of two anaerobic strains (Th-22 and TH-23) have been studied via PCR amplification. The isolated portion contains nearly the entire gene; approximately 1500 base segments. The study concluded B.infernus should be classified as a new Bacillus species based on RDP database information

Cell and colony structure

Interesting features of cell structure. Interesting features of colony structure.

Metabolism

Energy source(s); external electron donor(s) (=reductant source(s)); carbon source(s); oxygen classification; important molecules it produces.

Ecology

Habitat; symbiosis; contributions to the environment. metagenomic data link

Pathology

How does this organism cause disease? Human, animal, plant hosts? Virulence factors.

References

List your references here with hyperlinks to the papers or websites when possible. Also, provide the DOI number for articles. For example:

Sylvie Cousin, Marie-Laure Gulat-Okalla, Laurence Motreff, Catherine Gouyette, Christiane Bouchier, Dominique Clermont, and Chantal Bizet. Lactobacillus gigeriorum sp. nov., isolated from chicken crop. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol February 2012 62:330-334; published ahead of print March 18, 2011.} [doi:10.1099/ijs.0.028217-0.

Edited by Matt Flynn, a student of Dr. Lisa R. Moore, University of Southern Maine, Department of Biological Sciences, http://www.usm.maine.edu/bio