''Coprothermobacter'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of rod-shaped microorganisms, belonging to the new

bacterial 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 amon ...

family ''

Coprothermobacteraceae Coprothermobacteraceae is a new bacterial family of rod-shaped microorganisms, belonging to the order Coprothermobacterales, class Coprothermobacteria of the new phylum Coprothermobacterota. The name of this family was given on the basis of an ...

'' of the new

phylum In biology, a phylum (; plural: phyla) is a level of classification or taxonomic rank below kingdom and above class. Traditionally, in botany the term division has been used instead of phylum, although the International Code of Nomenclature ...

Coprothermobacterota ''Coprothermobacterota'' is a phylum of nonmotile, rod-shaped bacteria. Its members are strictly anaerobic and thermophilic, growing at optimal temperatures between 55 °C and 70 °C. The name of this phylum is based on an early genus ...

''. This taxonomic genus has been reclassified in 2018, after different

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups ...

studies showed that these bacteria represented a deeply branched taxon of the domain ''

Bacteria 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 am ...

''; consequently, the

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English ter ...

including this genus has been classified in a separate phylum from ''Firmicutes'', the phylum where it was included before reclassification. According to the first description of this genus, the etymology of its name derives from Greek words "''kopros''", meaning dung, from the source where one of the species ('' Coprothermobacter proteolyticus'') was isolated, and "''thermos''", meaning hot, warm, because of the relatively high temperatures at which these bacteria are able to grow, which can be as high as 75°C. Actually, very few known bacterial

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...

are included in this genus, which are characterized by sharing genetic information with microorganisms belonging to ''

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 ...

'', a taxonomic

domain Domain may refer to: Mathematics *Domain of a function, the set of input values for which the (total) function is defined ** Domain of definition of a partial function ** Natural domain of a partial function **Domain of holomorphy of a function * ...

separate from the domain ''

''. For this reason, ''Coprothermobacteria'' are considered a diverging lineage of bacteria. Among the species included in this genus, '' Coprothermobacter platensis'' and '' Coprothermobacter proteolyticus'' (formerly named ''Thermobacteroides proteolyticus)'' are the only strains with validly published names.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3693223 Bacteria genera Coprothermobacterota