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Pyrobaculum is a genus of in the family Thermoproteaceae.
P. aerophilum is a Hyperthermophile and versatile organism. Different from other hyperthermophiles, it can live in the presence of oxygen and grows efficiently in microaerophile conditions.
Pyrobaculum yellowstonensis strain WP30 was obtained from an sulfur sediment (Joseph's Coat Hot Spring JCHS, 80 °C, pH value 6.1, 135 μM As) in Yellowstone National Park (YNP), USA and is a Chemotroph and requires elemental sulfur and/or arsenate as an electron acceptor. Growth in the presence of elemental sulfur and arsenate resulted in the formation of and . The complete genome of this organism was Sequencing (1.99 Mb, 58% G+C content), revealing numerous metabolic pathways for the degradation of , , and . Multiple dimethyl sulfoxide-molybdopterin (DMSO-MPT) oxidoreductase , which are implicated in the reduction of sulfur and arsenic, were identified. Pathways for the de novo synthesis of nearly all required cofactors and were identified. The comparative genomics of P. yellowstonensis and the assembled metagenome sequence from JCHS showed that this organism is highly related (~95% average nucleotide sequence identity) to in situ populations. The Physiology attributes and metabolic capabilities of P. yellowstonensis provide an important foundation for developing an understanding of the distribution and function of these populations in YNP.
The first of the Pyrobaculum species to be genetically sequenced, P. aerophilum (rod-shaped, 3–8 * 0.6 μm), has a rare characteristic for an archaeon because it is capable of aerobic respiration (aerophilum = "air-loving"). This is evident from the fact that the archaeon grew only in the presence of oxygen when nitrate was absent. It produces colonies that are round and greyish yellow. It utilizes both organic (maximal cell densities were observed with complex organics such as yeast extract, meat extract, tryptone, and peptone as substrates) and inorganic compounds during aerobic and anaerobic respiration. Also, use of elemental sulphur for growth was observed. Further, P. aerophilum grows between 75 and 104 °C with an optimal growth temperature at 100 °C.
In stationary phase cultures, Pyrobaculum calidifontis cells were observed to aggregate. The aggregation is likely to be mediated by archaeal bundling pili (ABP), which assemble into highly ordered bipolar bundles. The bipolar nature of these bundles most likely arises from the association of filaments from at least two or more different cells. The component protein, AbpA, shows homology, both at the sequence and structural level, to the bacterial protein TasA, a major component of the extracellular matrix in bacterial biofilms, contributing to biofilm stability.
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