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The Family Picrophilaceae

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The Prokaryotes

Abstract

The genus Picrophilus is the only described genus of the family Picrophilaceae and is represented by two species, P. torridus and P. oshimae. The only apparent differentiating feature between the two species is their 16S rRNA gene sequences which are 99.45 % similar over 1,460 nucleotides. Given this, it is unlikely that these are two separate species. Picrophilus are nonmotile, irregular cocci and are thermophilic, heterotrophic, obligate aerobes that are hyperacidophilic, growing optimally at 60 °C and pH 0.7. Picrophilaceae differs from Ferroplasmaceae and Thermoplasmaceae in that members of Picrophilaceae have an S-layer. The genome of P. torridus has been sequenced, revealing one of the smallest known genomes of an aerobic free-living heterotrophic archaeon at 1.55 Mb.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Portland State University, Portland, OR, 97201, USA

    Anna-Louise Reysenbach & Kristen Brileya

Authors
  1. Anna-Louise Reysenbach
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  2. Kristen Brileya
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anna-Louise Reysenbach .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Eugene Rosenberg

  2. Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Edward F. DeLong

  3. Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education, University of Hawaii, Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA

    Edward F. DeLong

  4. Department of Microbiology and Immunobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Stephen Lory

  5. Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Braunschweig, Germany

    Erko Stackebrandt

  6. Laboratory of Microbiology, Institute of Biology, Center for Health Sciences, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Ilha do Fundão, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Fabiano Thompson

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© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Reysenbach, AL., Brileya, K. (2014). The Family Picrophilaceae . In: Rosenberg, E., DeLong, E.F., Lory, S., Stackebrandt, E., Thompson, F. (eds) The Prokaryotes. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-38954-2_326

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