Order Mariprofundales Genus Mariprofundus Rank Species | Family Mariprofundaceae Phylum Proteobacteria | |
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Scientific name Mariprofundus ferrooxydans People also search for Zetaproteobacteria, Procabacteriaceae | ||
Mariprofundus ferrooxydans is a neutrophilic, chemolithotrophic, Gram-negative bacterium which can grow by oxidising ferrous to ferric iron. It is the sole member of the class Zetaproteobacteria in the phylum Proteobacteria.
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Discovery
The bacterium was isolated from iron-rich microbial mats associated with hydrothermal vents at a submarine volcano, Lōʻihi Seamount, near Hawaii, and has only 85.3% 16S similarity to its nearest cultivated species Methylophaga marina. It has a doubling time at 23°C of 12 hours and a curved rod (about 0.5×2–5 µm) morphology.
Etymology
Despite being validly published, the etymology of the generic epithet is grammatically incorrect, being a concatenation of the Latin neutral mare -is (the sea) with the Latin masculine adjective profundus (deep) intended to mean a deep-sea organism (the neuter of profundus is profundum). The specific epithet is ferrum (Latin noun), iron and oxus (Greek adjective), acid or sour, and in combined words indicating oxygen. (N.L. v. oxydare, to make acid, to oxidize; N.L. part. adj. ferrooxydans, iron-oxidizing.)