''Methanothermococcus okinawensis'' is a thermophilic, methane-producing archaeon first isolated from deep-sea

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 hotspot ...

on the western Pacific Ocean. Its cells are highly motile, irregular cocci, with a polar bundle of

flagella A flagellum (; ) is a hairlike appendage that protrudes from certain plant and animal sperm cells, and from a wide range of microorganisms to provide motility. Many protists with flagella are termed as flagellates. A microorganism may have f ...

. Its type strain is IH1^T (=JCM 11175^T =DSM 14208^T). It grows at an optimal temperature of 60–65 °C and pH of 6.7. It is strictly anaerobic and reduces carbon dioxide with hydrogen to produce methane, but it can also use

formate Formate (IUPAC name: methanoate) is the conjugate base of formic acid. Formate is an anion () or its derivatives such as ester of formic acid. The salts and esters are generally colorless.Werner Reutemann and Heinz Kieczka "Formic Acid" in ''Ull ...

. Research studies indicate that it might be able to survive extreme conditions in solar system's other bodies, such as

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...

's moon Enceladus.

References

External links

*
LPSNType strain of ''Methanothermococcus okinawensis'' at Bac''Dive'' - the Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase
Archaea described in 2002 Euryarchaeota {{Euryarchaeota-stub

See also

References

Further reading

External links