Bacteria Genomes - THERMOTOGA MARITIMA

Thermotoga maritima metabolise many simple and complex carbohydrates and has potential as a renewable energy source

Thermotoga maritima, a rod-shaped bacterium belonging to the order Thermotogales, was originally isolated from geothermal heated marine sediment at Vulcano, Italy. The organism has an optimum growth temperature of 80 degrees C.

T. maritima metabolises many simple and complex carbohydrates including glucose, sucrose, starch, cellulose, and xylan. Through conversion to fuels such as hydrogen, both cellulose and xylan have great potential as renewable carbon and energy sources.

T. maritima is also of evolutionary significance, because small-subunit ribosomal RNA phylogeny has placed this bacterium as one of the deepest and most slowly evolving lineages in the Eubacteria

Hierarchy Description:

Genus: Thermotogota
Species: maritima
Strain: MSB8
Genome accession number: AE000512 [AE001689- AE001824]
EMBL reference Medline reference
Taxonomy: 243274

References:

Science 281 (5375):375-88 (1998)
http://www.tigr.org/CMR2/BackGround/btm.html