Picrophilus torridus is a species of
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 Archaebac ...
described in 1996.
''Picrophilus torridus'' was found in soil near a
hot spring
A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...
in
Hokkaido
is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel.
The la ...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. The
pH of the soil was less than 0.5.
''P. torridus'' also has one of the smallest genomes found among organisms that are free-living and are non-parasitic and a high coding density, meaning that the majority of its genes are coding regions and provide instructions for building proteins. The current research suggests the two hostile conditions (high temperatures and low pH) favored by ''P. torridus'' have exerted selective pressure towards having a small and compact genome, which is less likely to be damaged by the harsh environment.
References
Further reading
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External links
Type strain of ''Picrophilus torridus'' at Bac''Dive'' - the Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase
{{Taxonbar, from=Q14330899
Archaea described in 1996
Euryarchaeota