Sulfolobus

Sulfolobus is part of the Archaea kingdom -- a single-cell organism similar to bacteria -- which was isolated in hot springs on the island of Hokkaido, Japan.

Some Archaea live ordinary lives in mundane environments such as lakes, seas and insect and mammal intestinal tracts, while others live extraordinary lives pushed to extremes in incredibly harsh habitats such as deep sea hydrothermal vents, volcanic mud and the Dead Sea.

Archaea have been instrumental in evolutionary studies on the origins of life and have revealed to scientists that the boundaries of life as we know it can be pushed much further than previously thought.

For details about the organisms:

M. A. Schumacher, N. K. Tonthat, J. Lee, F. A. Rodriguez-Castaneda, N. B. Chinnam, A. K. Kalliomaa-Sanford, I. W. Ng, M. T. Barge, P. L. R. Shaw, D. Barilla. Structures of archaeal DNA segregation machinery reveal bacterial and eukaryotic linkages. Science, 2015; 349 (6252): 1120 DOI: 10.1126/science.aaa9046

Posted by Tim Sandle