Pyrolobus fumarii is an extreme member of hyperthermophiles which is known to grow at temperatures that are above 113°C. Its cell structure and metabolism enables it to maintain thermal resistance at extremely high temperatures that would kill other organisms. Not only does it not grow at temperatures that are below 90°C it also has an optimum pH that ranges between 4.0 and 6.5 and a salt concentration between 1%-4% with 1.7% as its optimum ( Anitori, 2012 ).
Pyrolobus fumarii grows at temperatures that are between 90 and 113°C ( Robb et al., 2007 ). This is the hottest temperature that is associated with living organisms with 106°C being optimal. It is imperative to note that this species has the ability to survive in temperatures that are above this range for almost an hour even though these temperatures exceed the boiling point of water at sea level. The organisms grow on hydrogen substrates at depths of up to 3600 meters. They are nourished by small amounts of oxygen, sulfate or nitrate.
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This species was first discovered in 1997 at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in a black smoker hydrothermal vent formed by sulfur-bearing minerals from beneath the earth’s crust ( Horikoshi & Tsujii, 1999 ). The scientific classification of this organism is as follows. Species: Pyrolobus fumarii , Domain: Archaea , Phylum: Crenarchaeota , Class: Thermoprotei , Order: Desulfurococcales , Family: Pyrodictiaceae and Genus: Pyrolobus .
References
Anitori, R. P. (2012). Extremophiles: Microbiology and biotechnology . Norfolk, UK: Caister Academic Press.
Horikoshi, K., & Tsujii, K. (1999). Superbugs in deep-sea environments . New York: Springer.
Robb, F., Antranikian, G., Grogan, D., & Driessen, A. (Eds.). (2007). Thermophiles: biology and technology at high temperatures . CRC Press.
