''Bacillus infernus'' is a

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 ear ...

bacterium Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were a ...

of the genus ''

Bacillus ''Bacillus'' (Latin "stick") is a genus of Gram-positive, rod-shaped bacteria, a member of the phylum '' Bacillota'', with 266 named species. The term is also used to describe the shape (rod) of other so-shaped bacteria; and the plural ''Bacil ...

'' that lives in deep terrestrial subsurface areas. It was first isolated in depths of to in the Taylorsville Triassic Basin in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...

, and grew well at but not at 40° or 65 °C.

Popular culture

''Bacillus infernus'' premiered in the 2008

The Andromeda Strain (miniseries) ''The Andromeda Strain'' is a 2008 science fiction miniseries, based on the 1969 novel of the same name written by Michael Crichton about a team of scientists who investigate a deadly disease of extraterrestrial origin. The miniseries is a "reim ...

. The bacteria's origin was erroneously attributed to

hydrothermal vents 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 ...

instead of a buried triassic rift basin.

References

External links

Type strain of ''Bacillus infernus'' at Bac''Dive'' - the Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase

infernus Roger Tiegs (born 18 June 1972 in Umeå), better known by his stage name Infernus, is a Norwegian black metal musician and Satanist. He is the sole founding member and chief ideologist of the black metal band Gorgoroth, which was formed in 1 ...

{{Bacilli-stub