Pyrobaculum aerophilum is a single-celled microorganism in the genus Pyrobaculum. The first Pyrobaculum species to be sequenced was P. aerophilum. It is a rod-shaped hyperthermophilicarchaeum first isolated from a boiling marine water hole at Maronti Beach, Ischia. It forms characteristic terminal spherical bodies (so called "golf clubs") like Thermoproteus and Pyrobaculum. Its type strain is IM2; DSM 7523).[1] Its optimum temperature for growth is around boiling point for water.[2] Its optimum pH for growth is 7.0. Sulfur was found to inhibit its growth.[1]
Its circular genome sequence is 2,222,430 Bp in length and contains 2605 protein-coding sequences (CDS). It is capable of aerobic respiration. Its name references this ability: aerophilum coming from the Greek: ἀήρ ("aero"), meaning air, and φιλο (philo), meaning loving. It produces colonies that are round and greyish yellow. It uses both organic and inorganic compounds during respiration.[1][3]
Whole genome analysis demonstrated that it lacks 5' untranslated regions in its mRNAs. This implies that it does not employ the Shine-Delgarno sequence to initiate protein synthesis.[4]
^Ausili, Alessio; Vitale, Annalisa; Labella, Tullio; Rosso, Francesco; et al. (2012). "Alcohol dehydrogenase from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrobaculum aerophilum: Stability at high temperature". Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics. 525 (1): 40–46. doi:10.1016/j.abb.2012.05.019. ISSN0003-9861. PMID22683471.
Solomons, J. T. Graham; Johnsen, Ulrike; Schoenheit, Peter; Davies, Christopher (August 27, 2013). "3-Phosphoglycerate Is an Allosteric Activator of Pyruvate Kinase from the Hyperthermophilic ArchaeonPyrobaculum aerophilum". Biochemistry. 52 (34): 5865–5875. doi:10.1021/bi400761b. PMID23879743.
