The ''Thioalkalibacteraceae'' are a family of

extremophiles An extremophile (from Latin ' meaning "extreme" and Greek ' () meaning "love") is an organism that is able to live (or in some cases thrive) in extreme environments, i.e. environments that make survival challenging such as due to extreme temper ...

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

chemolithoautotrophic A lithoautotroph is an organism which 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 while ...

organisms in the '' Chromatiales'' comprising the genus '' Thioalkalibacter'' and ''

Guyparkeria ''Guyparkeria'' is a genus in the '' Gammaproteobacteria''. Both species are obligate aerobic bacteria; they require oxygen to grow. They are also halophilic and have varying degrees of thermophilicity. They live in environments with high conce ...

''. The family is closely related to the family ''

Halothiobacillaceae The Halothiobacillaceae are a family of halotolerant, mesophilic, and obligate chemolithoautotrophic organisms in the '' Chromatiales'' comprising the genus ''Halothiobacillus ''Halothiobacillus'' is a genus in the ''Gammaproteobacteria''. B ...

'' of halotolerant, mesophilic obligate autotrophs. The type genus of the family is '' Thioalkalibacter'', and both genera in the family are obligate

autotroph An autotroph or primary producer is an organism that produces complex organic compounds (such as carbohydrates, fats, and proteins) using carbon from simple substances such as carbon dioxide,Morris, J. et al. (2019). "Biology: How Life Works", ...

s that fix

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide (chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is transpar ...

into biological material using the Calvin-Benson-Bassham cycle (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 first major step of carbon fixation, a process by which atmospheric carbon dioxide is con ...

) and oxidise

sulfur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...

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 ''

'', 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