''Thermococcus barophilus'' is a piezophilic and

hyperthermophilic A hyperthermophile is an organism that thrives in extremely hot environments—from 60 °C (140 °F) upwards. An optimal temperature for the existence of hyperthermophiles is often above 80 °C (176 °F). Hyperthermophiles are often within the doma ...

archaeon 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 Archaebact ...

isolated from a 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 ...

. It is anaerobic and sulfur-metabolising, with type strain MP^T.

Nomenclature

The name ''Thermococcus barophilus'' has Greek roots, ''thermo'' for heat, ''kokkos'' for the spherical cells, ''baros'' for weight, and ''philos'' for loving. Overall, the name means "organism with a spherical body that gravitates to heat and to the pressure of the

water column A water column is a conceptual column of water from the surface of a sea, river or lake to the bottom sediment.Munson, B.H., Axler, R., Hagley C., Host G., Merrick G., Richards C. (2004).Glossary. ''Water on the Web''. University of Minnesota-D ...

Physiology

''T. barophilus'' can grow at even higher temperatures if the pressure is high, as well. At an

atmospheric pressure Atmospheric pressure, also known as barometric pressure (after the barometer), is the pressure within the atmosphere of Earth. The standard atmosphere (symbol: atm) is a unit of pressure defined as , which is equivalent to 1013.25 millibars, 7 ...

, it can grow at temperatures of 45-90 °C, with an optimal temperature of 85 °C, but it can grow at temperatures as high as 100 °C if the

hydrostatic pressure Fluid statics or hydrostatics is the branch of fluid mechanics that studies the condition of the equilibrium of a floating body and submerged body "fluids at hydrostatic equilibrium and the pressure in a fluid, or exerted by a fluid, on an imme ...

is 15.0-17.5 MPa. Sulfur is necessary for its growth, but it can also grow slowly in absence of sulfur. Membrane lipid has a major archaeol component.

Genome

The genome of ''T. barophilus'' has been sequenced and is circular in nature with a size of 2,010,078bp. It has also a circular plasmid pTBMP1. The genome sequence shows that it has the carboxydotrophic pathway and bears seven different hydrogenase complexes.

Transcriptome

The transcriptome analysis of this organism has also been done. It has been found that, 378 genes are differentially expressed in ''T. barophilus'' under different pressure conditions. Genes related to energy production and conversion, inorganic ion transport and metabolism and crabohydrate transport and metabolism are upregulated. Genes which are downregulated are involved in amino acid transport and metabolism, nucleotide transport and metabolism, replication and repair and recombination and inorganic ion transport and metabolism.

References

External links