''Thermithiobacillus'' is a genus of nonsporeforming, rod-shaped,

Gram-negative Gram-negative bacteria are bacteria that do not retain the crystal violet stain used in the Gram staining method of bacterial differentiation. They are characterized by their cell envelopes, which are composed of a thin peptidoglycan cell wa ...

bacteria. The name derives from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''thermae'', for warm baths, and the Classical

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

θείος, ''theios'' for sulfur. The type species of this genus was previously assigned to the genus ''

Thiobacillus ''Thiobacillus'' is a genus of Gram-negative Betaproteobacteria. ''Thiobacillus thioparus'' is the type species of the genus, and the type strain thereof is the StarkeyT strain, isolated by Robert Starkey in the 1930s from a field at Rutgers Un ...

'', but it was reclassified on the basis of 16S

rRNA Ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) is a type of non-coding RNA which is the primary component of ribosomes, essential to all cells. rRNA is a ribozyme which carries out protein synthesis in ribosomes. Ribosomal RNA is transcribed from ribosoma ...

analysis in 2000, creating this genus. A phylogenetic analysis, using 98 protein families confirmed this reassignment. This

chemolithoautotrophic A lithoautotroph is an organism which derives energy from reactions of reduced compounds of mineral (inorganic) origin. Two types of lithoautotrophs are distinguished by their energy source; photolithoautotrophs derive their energy from light while ...

genus is obligately

aerobic Aerobic means "requiring air," in which "air" usually means oxygen. Aerobic may also refer to * Aerobic exercise, prolonged exercise of moderate intensity * Aerobics, a form of aerobic exercise * Aerobic respiration, the aerobic process of cel ...

and moderately

thermophilic A thermophile is an organism—a type of extremophile—that thrives at relatively high temperatures, between . Many thermophiles are archaea, though they can be bacteria or fungi. Thermophilic eubacteria are suggested to have been among the earl ...

(43-45 °C). The type species is

Thermithiobacillus tepidarius ''Thermithiobacillus tepidarius'' (from the Latin ''tepidarium''; a warm bath fed by natural thermal water) is a member of the ''Acidithiobacillia'' isolated from the thermal groundwaters of the Roman Baths (Bath), Roman Baths at Bath, Somerset, ...

(''

'').LPSN lpsn.dsmz.de
/ref> '' Thermithiobacillus plumbiphilus'' was published in 2016.

References

External links

Type strain of ''Thermithiobacillus plumbiphilus'' at Bac''Dive'' - the Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase
Bacteria genera Thermithiobacillaceae Acidithiobacillia Acidithiobacillales {{Proteobacteria-stub