''Pyrolobus fumarii'' (literally the "firelobe of the chimney") is a species of
archaea
Archaea ( ; singular archaeon ) is a domain of single-celled organisms. These microorganisms lack cell nuclei and are therefore prokaryotes. Archaea were initially classified as bacteria, receiving the name archaebacteria (in the Archaeba ...
known for its ability to live at extremely high temperatures that kill most organisms.
[Joseph E. Armstrong. 2014. How the Earth Turned Green: A Brief 3.8-Billion-Year History of Plants. University of Chicago Press.] It was first discovered in 1997 in a
black smoker
A hydrothermal vent is a fissure on the seabed from which geothermally heated water discharges. They are commonly found near volcanically active places, areas where tectonic plates are moving apart at mid-ocean ridges, ocean basins, and hotspot ...
hydrothermal vent
A hydrothermal vent is a fissure on the seabed from which geothermally heated water discharges. They are commonly found near volcanically active places, areas where tectonic plates are moving apart at mid-ocean ridges, ocean basins, and hotspo ...
at the
Mid-Atlantic Ridge
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a mid-ocean ridge (a divergent or constructive plate boundary) located along the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, and part of the longest mountain range in the world. In the North Atlantic, the ridge separates the North A ...
, setting the upper temperature threshold for known life to exist at 113 °C (235.4 °F), but more recently ''
Methanopyrus kandleri'' has been discovered which can survive temperatures up to 122 °C. (251.6 °F)
The species "freezes" or solidifies and ceases growth at temperatures of 90 °C (194 °F) and below.
Strain 121
Strain 121 (''Geogemma barossii'') is a single-celled microbe of the domain Archaea. First discovered off Puget Sound near a hydrothermal vent, it is a hyperthermophile, able to reproduce at , hence its name. It was (at the time of its discove ...
, a microbe from the same family found at a vent in the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...
, survived and multiplied during a 10-hour interval spent at 121 °C (249.8 °F) in an
autoclave
An autoclave is a machine used to carry out industrial and scientific processes requiring elevated temperature and pressure in relation to ambient pressure and/or temperature. Autoclaves are used before surgical procedures to perform sterilizati ...
.
References
Further reading
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External links
Type strain of ''Pyrolobus fumarii'' at Bac''Dive'' - the Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase
:fr:Pyrolobus fumarii
Thermoproteota
Archaea described in 1997
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