Aquificota

Aquificota is a bacterial phylum containing heat-adapted lineages such as Aquifex and Hydrogenobacter. Many members gain energy by oxidizing hydrogen or reduced sulfur compounds.

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Thermophile: A microorganism that grows best at high temperatures. Aquificota includes organisms adapted to hot springs and other high-temperature habitats.
Aquifex aeolicus: A hyperthermophilic bacterium isolated from a submarine hydrothermal vent. Its genome and physiology have made it a prominent model within Aquificota.
Thermotogae: A bacterial phylum that includes anaerobic, heat-adapted organisms. Thermotogae are another deeply branching group often compared with Aquificota.
Bacterial phylogeny: The evolutionary relationships among bacterial lineages. Aquificota’s placement has been used to infer relationships among early-diverging bacteria.
Chemolithotrophy: A mode of metabolism that obtains energy by oxidizing inorganic compounds. Many Aquificota use inorganic electron donors rather than organic food.
Hydrogenobacter thermophilus: A thermophilic, hydrogen-oxidizing bacterium originally isolated from a hot spring. It exemplifies hydrogen-based growth among Aquificota.
Deinococcus–Thermus: A bacterial phylum containing radiation-resistant and thermophilic lineages. Its thermophilic members offer a separate bacterial route to life at high temperatures.
16S ribosomal RNA: A ribosomal RNA molecule widely used to compare bacterial and archaeal evolutionary relationships. Early classifications of Aquificota relied heavily on comparisons of this sequence.
Hydrogen oxidation: A metabolic process that extracts energy by transferring electrons from molecular hydrogen. Hydrogen is a major energy source for several Aquificota.
Hydrothermal vent: A seafloor opening that releases geothermally heated, chemically altered water. Some Aquificota inhabit hot, chemically rich vent systems.