The ''Thioalkalibacteraceae'' are a family of

extremophiles An extremophile () is an organism that is able to live (or in some cases thrive) in extreme environments, i.e., environments with conditions approaching or stretching the limits of what known life can adapt to, such as extreme temperature, pres ...

, namely halophilic, alkaliphilic or alkalitolerant, mesophilic to thermophilic obligately

chemolithoautotrophic A lithoautotroph is an organism that 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, whil ...

organisms in the '' Chromatiales'' comprising the genus '' Thioalkalibacter'' and '' Guyparkeria''. The family is closely related to the family '' Halothiobacillaceae'' of halotolerant, mesophilic obligate autotrophs. The type genus of the family is '' Thioalkalibacter'', and both genera in the family are obligate

autotroph An autotroph is an organism that can convert Abiotic component, abiotic sources of energy into energy stored in organic compounds, which can be used by Heterotroph, other organisms. Autotrophs produce complex organic compounds (such as carbohy ...

s that fix

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...

into biological material using the

Calvin-Benson-Bassham cycle The Calvin cycle, light-independent reactions, bio synthetic phase, dark reactions, or photosynthetic carbon reduction (PCR) cycle of photosynthesis is a series of chemical reactions that convert carbon dioxide and hydrogen-carrier compounds into ...

(using form IAc

RuBisCO Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase, commonly known by the abbreviations RuBisCo, rubisco, RuBPCase, or RuBPco, is an enzyme () involved in the light-independent (or "dark") part of photosynthesis, including the carbon fixation by wh ...

) and oxidise

sulfur Sulfur ( American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphur ( Commonwealth spelling) is a chemical element; it has symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms ...

oxyanions, sulfide and elementary sulfur as their electron donor. All genera use ubiquinone-8 as their major respiratory quinone and have a G+C fraction of 54-68 mol%. Unlikely the closely related family the '' Halothiobacillaceae'', no detectable polythionate intermediates of sulfur oxidation are detectable, and the ''Thioalkalibacteracaceae'' are obligate halophiles rather than halotolerant, as well as alkaliphilic or alkalitolerant, rather than mesophilic or acidotolerant.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q48999588 Bacteria families Chromatiales