Dictyoglomus thermophilum explained

Dictyoglomus is a genus of bacterium,^[1] given its own Phylum, called the Dictyoglomi.This organism is extremely thermophilic, meaning it thrives at extremely high temperatures. It is chemoorganotrophic, meaning it derives energy by metabolizing organic molecules. This organism is of interest because it elaborates an enzyme, xylanase, which digests xylan, a heteropolymer of the pentose sugar xylose. By pretreating wood pulp with this enzyme, paper manufacturers can achieve comparable levels of whiteness with much less chlorine bleach.

It has been described as Gram-negative, with a triple-layered wall.^[2]

Further reading

• Li. He. Kankaanpää. Anna. Xiong. Hairong. Hummel. Michael. Sixta. Herbert. Ojamo. Heikki. Turunen. Ossi. Thermostabilization of extremophilic Dictyoglomus thermophilum GH11 xylanase by an N-terminal disulfide bridge and the effect of ionic liquid [emim]OAc on the enzymatic performance. Enzyme and Microbial Technology. December 2013. 53. 6–7. 414–419. 10.1016/j.enzmictec.2013.09.004. 24315645.
• Zhang. Wei. Lou. Kai. Li. Guan. Expression and Characterization of the Dictyoglomus thermophilum Rt46B.1 Xylanase Gene (xynB) in Bacillus subtilis. Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology. 2010. 160. 5. 1484–1495. 10.1007/s12010-009-8634-8.

External links

• Type strain of Dictyoglomus thermophilum at BacDive - the Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase

Notes and References

1. Morris DD, Gibbs MD, Chin CW . Cloning of the xynB gene from Dictyoglomus thermophilum Rt46B.1 and action of the gene product on kraft pulp . Appl. Environ. Microbiol. . 64 . 5 . 1759–65 . May 1998 . 9572948 . 106227 . etal.
2. Book: Kristjansson, Jakob K. . Thermophilic bacteria . CRC Press . Boca Raton . 1992 . 133 . 0-8493-5239-8 .