Phylum Crenarchaeota Rank Species | Kingdom Crenarchaeota | |
Similar Pyrobaculum, Aeropyrum pernix, Archaeoglobus, Crenarchaeota, Thermoplasma volcanium |
Pyrobaculum aerophilum is a single-celled microorganism in the Pyrobaculum genus. The first Pyrobaculum species to be sequenced was P. aerophilum. It is a rod-shaped hyperthermophilic archaeum first isolated from a boiling marine water hole at Maronti Beach, Ischia. It forms characteristic terminal spherical bodies (so called "golf clubs") like Thermoproteus and Pyrobaculum. Its type strain is IM2; DSM 7523). Its optimum temperature for growth is around boiling point for water.
Its circular genome sequence is 2,222,430 Bp in length and contains 2605 protein-coding sequences (CDS). It is capable of aerobic respiration. Its name references this ability: aerophilum coming from the Greek: ἀήρ ("aero"), meaning air, and φιλο (philo), meaning loving. It produces colonies that are round and greyish yellow. It uses both organic and inorganic compounds during respiration.