Methanopyrus

Methanopyrus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Archaea
Kingdom: Euryarchaeota
Class: Methanopyri
Order: Methanopyrales
Huber and Stetter, 2002
Family: Methanopyraceae
Huber and Stetter, 2002
Genus: Methanopyrus
Kurr et al., 1992
Species:
M. kandleri
Binomial name
Methanopyrus kandleri
Kurr et al., 1992

Methanopyrus is a genus of methanogen,[1] with a single described species, Methanopyrus kandleri. It is a rod-shaped hyperthermophile, discovered on the wall of a black smoker from the Gulf of California at a depth of 2,000 m, at temperatures of 84–110 °C. Strain 116 was discovered in black smoker fluid of the Kairei hydrothermal field; it can survive and reproduce at 122 °C.[2] M. kandleri also requires a high ionic concentration (>1 M) in order for growth and cellular activity.[3] Due to the species' high resilience and extreme environment, M. kandleri is also classified as an extremophile.[3] It lives in a hydrogen–carbon dioxide rich environment, and like other methanogens reduces the latter to methane. It is placed among the Euryarchaeota, in its own class.

  1. ^ See the NCBI webpage on Methanopyrus. Data extracted from the "NCBI taxonomy resources". National Center for Biotechnology Information. Retrieved 2007-03-19.
  2. ^ Takai K, Nakamura K, Toki T, Tsunogai U, Miyazaki M, Miyazaki J, et al. (August 2008). "Cell proliferation at 122 degrees C and isotopically heavy CH4 production by a hyperthermophilic methanogen under high-pressure cultivation". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 105 (31): 10949–54. Bibcode:2008PNAS..10510949T. doi:10.1073/pnas.0712334105. PMC 2490668. PMID 18664583.
  3. ^ a b Slesarev AI, Mezhevaya KV, Makarova KS, Polushin NN, Shcherbinina OV, Shakhova VV, et al. (April 2002). "The complete genome of hyperthermophile Methanopyrus kandleri AV19 and monophyly of archaeal methanogens". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 99 (7): 4644–9. Bibcode:2002PNAS...99.4644S. doi:10.1073/pnas.032671499. PMC 123701. PMID 11930014.