The relative isolation and unique physical properties of the Savusavu Hot Springs in Fiji may yield unique thermophiles. This study was conducted to determine the presence of aerobic thermophilic bacteria in these hot springs. A total of 104 thermophilic bacterial isolates were characterized and using Thermus and Bacillus strains as controls, 58% of the isolates were identified as Anoxybacillus...

Microbiological analyses of soil chronically exposed to petroleum complex compounds of some oil springs in south of Iran resulted in isolation and purification of a new native thermophilic strain which is capable to desulfurize petroleum sulfur compounds by 4-S mechanism. Dibenzothiophene (DBT) was selected as a complex sulfur compound model and many experiments were done to identify the me...

Physical and chemical barriers separate individual terrestrial hot springs and their affiliated communities of thermophilic bacteria. However, 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons suggest that seemingly identical or closely related bacterial species are found in multiple hot springs that are separated by distances that range from a few meters to thousands of kilometers. To investigate whether thi...

1. Evidence for a close relation between thermophilic and mesophilic bacteria is discussed. 2. It is shown that in the absence of nutrients thermophilic bacteria at 55 degrees C. die as rapidly as mesophilic bacteria, and that enzyme systems of the thermophils are rapidly inactivated at this temperature. 3. It is concluded that the thermophils can live at high temperatures because they can synt...

The cytoplasmic membranes of Bacteria and Archaea determine to a large extent the composition of the cytoplasm. Since the ion and, in particular, the proton and/or the sodium ion electrochemical gradients across the membranes are crucial for the bioenergetic conditions of these microorganisms, strategies are needed to restrict the permeation of these ions across their cytoplasmic membranes. The...

Thermophilic bacteria belonging to Bacillus genetic group 5 have been reclassified as being members of Geobacillus gen. nov., with G. stearothermophilus as the type strain. Geobacillus species, literally meaning earth or soil Bacillus, are widely distributed and readily isolated from natural and man-made thermophilic biotopes. Work within our group has however shown that an abundance of genetic...

Thermophilic bacteria have recently attracted great attention because of their potential application in improving different biochemical processes such as anaerobic digestion of various substrates, wastewater treatment or hydrogen production. In this study we report on the design of a specific 16S rRNA-targeted oligonucleotide probe for detecting members of Coprothermobacter genus characterized ...