The class Hydrogenophilalia in the ''

Bacteria Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometr ...

'' was circumscribed in 2017 when it was demonstrated that the order ''

Hydrogenophilales The Hydrogenophilaceae are a family of the Hydrogenophilalia, with two genera – '' Hydrogenophilus'' and '' Tepidiphilus''. Like all ''Pseudomonadota'', they are Gram-negative. All known species are thermophilic, growing around 50 °C and ...

'' was distinct from the ''

Betaproteobacteria Betaproteobacteria are a class of Gram-negative bacteria, and one of the eight classes of the phylum Pseudomonadota (synonym Proteobacteria). The ''Betaproteobacteria'' are a class comprising over 75 genera and 400 species of bacteria. Togeth ...

'' on the basis of physiology, biochemistry, fatty acid profiles, and phylogenetic analyses on the basis of the 16S rRNA gene and 53 ribosomal protein sequences concatenated using the rMLST platform for

multilocus sequence typing Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) is a technique in molecular biology for the typing of multiple loci, using DNA sequences of internal fragments of multiple housekeeping genes to characterize isolates of microbial species. The first MLST scheme ...

. The class comprises one order, the ''

'' (type order), which contains thermophilic organisms - both

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 Wo ...

s and

heterotroph A heterotroph (; ) is an organism that cannot produce its own food, instead taking nutrition from other sources of organic carbon, mainly plant or animal matter. In the food chain, heterotrophs are primary, secondary and tertiary consumers, but ...

s, the former of which utilise molecular

hydrogen Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic ...

as their electron donor, coupling its oxidation to the reduction of NAD⁺ with the enzyme

hydrogenase A hydrogenase is an enzyme that catalyses the reversible oxidation of molecular hydrogen (H2), as shown below: Hydrogen uptake () is coupled to the reduction of electron acceptors such as oxygen, nitrate, sulfate, carbon dioxide (), and fumarat ...

. The very high proportion of ω-cyclohexyl fatty acids (specifically C19:0 ''cyclo'' and C17:0 ''cyclo'') versus straight counterparts was a major distinguishing feature versus the ''

'', and is probably involved in ensuring membrane stability at high growth temperatures. Members of the class can all use molecular

oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as ...

as a

terminal electron acceptor An electron acceptor is a chemical entity that accepts electrons transferred to it from another compound. It is an oxidizing agent that, by virtue of its accepting electrons, is itself reduced in the process. Electron acceptors are sometimes mista ...

(i.e. are

aerobic Aerobic means "requiring air," in which "air" usually means oxygen. Aerobic may also refer to * Aerobic exercise, prolonged exercise of moderate intensity * Aerobics, a form of aerobic exercise * Aerobic respiration, the aerobic process of cel ...

) as well as nitrate, which can be used by some members during

denitrification Denitrification is a microbially facilitated process where nitrate (NO3−) is reduced and ultimately produces molecular nitrogen (N2) through a series of intermediate gaseous nitrogen oxide products. Facultative anaerobic bacteria perform denitr ...

. The autotrophic members of the class do not use

carboxysome Carboxysomes are bacterial microcompartments (BMCs) consisting of polyhedral protein shells filled with the enzymes ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO)—the predominant enzyme in carbon fixation and the rate limiting e ...

s to concentrate

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 trans ...

or improve

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 ...

efficiency as a carboxylase versus an

oxygenase An oxygenase is any enzyme that oxidizes a substrate by transferring the oxygen from molecular oxygen O2 (as in air) to it. The oxygenases form a class of oxidoreductases; their EC number is EC 1.13 or EC 1.14. Discoverers Oxygenases were disco ...

. The dominant respiratory quinone of the class is ubiquinone-8 and

menaquinone Vitamin K2 or menaquinone (MK) () is one of three types of vitamin K, the other two being vitamin K1 (phylloquinone) and K3 ( menadione). K2 is both a tissue and bacterial product (derived from vitamin K1 in both cases) and is usually found in a ...

s or

rhodoquinone Rhodoquinone (RQ) is a modified ubiquinone-like molecule that is an important cofactor used in anaerobic energy metabolism by many organisms. Recently, it has gained attention as a potential anthelmintic Anthelmintics or antihelminthics are a ...

s are not observed, though they are in the neighbouring ''

''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q48999611 Monotypic classes Monotypic bacteria taxa