Crenarchaeota

Harald Huber, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany

Published online: April 2006

DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0004242

The Crenarchaeota, one of the meanwhile four kingdoms of the archaeal domain, consist primarily of hyperthermophiles, thriving at temperatures of up to 113°C. They have been isolated from submarine hydrothermal systems or from continental solfataric fields. So far, 3 orders with 24 genera and more than 50 species have been validly described.

Keywords: archaea; taxonomy; hyperthermophiles; thermoacidophiles; sulfur

Figure 1. Phylogenetic tree derived from 16S rRNA sequences data for the Crenarchaeota and some representatives of the Euryarchaeota. The tree was calculated with the maximum likelihood programme. The scale bar indicates 10 estimated changes per 100 nucleotides. (families occur in red; orders in blue; domains in green)
Figure 2. Electron micrograph of cells of Ignicoccus islandicus, (a) thin section, and (b) freeze etched. Bar, 0.5 m.
Figure 3. Electron micrograph of a shadow-caste P. aerophilum, shadowed with tantalum/tungsten. Bar, 1 m.
Figure 4. Electron micrograph of a shadow-caste M. sedula cell with one flagellum, shadowed with tantalum/tungsten. Bar, 1 m.
Figure 5. Scanning electron micrograph of the network of Pyrodictium cells and cannulae. Bar, 2 m.
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 Further Reading
    book De RosaM and Gambacorta A (1994) "Archaeal lipids". In: Goodfellow M and O'Donnell AG (eds) Chemical Methods in Procaryotic Systematics, pp. 197–264. Chichester, UK: Wiley.
    Huber H, Hohn MJ, Stetter KO and Rachel R (2003) The phylum Nanoarchaeota: present knowledge and future perspectives of a unique form of life. Research in Microbiology 154: 165–171.
    book Huber H, Huber R and Stetter KO (2002) "Thermoproteales". In: Dworkin M, Falkow S, Rosenberg E et al., (eds) The Prokaryotes: An Evolving Electronic Resource for the Microbiological Community, 3rd edn. New York: Springer. http://link.springer-ny.com/link/service/books/10125/
    book Huber H and Stetter KO (2002) "Desulfurococcales". In: Dworkin M, Falkow S, Rosenberg E et al. (eds) The Prokaryotes: An Evolving Electronic Resource for the Microbiological Community, 3rd edn. New York: Springer. www.prokaryotes.com
    Kengen SWM, Stams AJM and de Vos WM (1996) Sugar metabolism of hyperthermophiles. FEMS Microbiology Reviews 18: 119–137.
    Ludwig W and Schleifer KH (1994) Bacterial phylogeny based on 16S and 23S rRNA sequence analysis. FEMS Microbiology Reviews 15: 155–173.
    book Rachel R (1998) "Fine structure of hyperthermophilic procaryotes". Seckback J (ed.) Life in Extreme Environments, pp. 277–289. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
    book Stetter KO (2005) "Volcanoes, hydrothermal venting, and the origin of life". In: Marti J and Ernst GJ (eds) Volcanoes and the Environment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
    Woese CR (1987) Bacterial evolution. Microbiological Reviews 51: 221–271.
    Woese CR (1998) The universal ancestor. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 95: 6854–6859.
    ePath For actual genome data see: http://www.genomesonline.org/

Related Sub-Topics:

Archaea | Microbial Evolution and Taxonomy
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Article Title: Crenarchaeota
 
How to Cite close
Huber, Harald(Apr 2006) Crenarchaeota. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0004242]