Methanocaldococcus Explained

Methanocaldococcus formerly known as Methanococcus is a genus of coccoid methanogen archaea.^[1] They are all mesophiles, except the thermophilic M. thermolithotrophicus and the hyperthermophilic M. jannaschii. The latter was discovered at the base of a “white smoker” chimney at 21°N on the East Pacific Rise^[2] and it was the first archaean genome to be completely sequenced, revealing many novel and eukaryote-like elements.^[3]

Nomenclature

The name Methanocaldococcus has Latin and Greek roots, methano for methane, caldo for hot, and the Greek kokkos for the spherical shape of the cells. Overall, the name means spherical cell that produces methane at hot temperatures.^[4]

Metabolism

All species in Methanocaldococcus are obligate methanogens. They use hydrogen to reduce carbon dioxide. Unlike many other species within Euryarchaeota, they cannot use formate, acetate, methanol or methylamines as substrates.

Phylogeny

The currently accepted taxonomy is based on the List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature (LPSN) ^[5] and National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).^[6]

See also

• List of Archaea genera
• Methanocaldococcus sp. FS406-22

Further reading

• Book: Whitman, WB . 2001 . Genus I. Methanocaldococcus gen. nov. . Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology Volume 1: The Archaea and the deeply branching and phototrophic Bacteria . 2nd . DR Boone . RW Castenholz . . New York . 978-0-387-98771-2 . registration .
• Book: Whitman WB . Boone DR . Koga Y . 2001 . Family II. Methanocaldococcaceae fam. nov. . Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology Volume 1: The Archaea and the deeply branching and phototrophic Bacteria . 2nd . DR Boone . RW Castenholz . Springer Verlag . New York . 978-0-387-98771-2 . registration .

External links

• Information on type species 'Methanocaldococcus jannaschii'
• Methanocaldococcus at BacDive - the Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase

Notes and References

1. See the NCBI webpage on Methanocaldococcus. Data extracted from the Web site: NCBI taxonomy resources . . 2007-03-19.
2. W.J. Jones . etal. December 1983. Methanococcus jannaschii sp. nov., an extremely thermophilic methanogen from a submarine hydrothermal vent. Arch. Microbiol.. 136. 4. 254–261. 10.1007/BF00425213. 33277659.
3. C.J. Bult . etal. August 1996. Complete genome sequence of the methanogenic archaeon, Methanococcus jannaschii. Science. 273. 5278. 1058–1073. 10.1126/science.273.5278.1058. 8688087. 1996Sci...273.1058B. 41481616.
4. Book: David R. Boone. Richard W. Castenholz. 1. Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology. 2. 2012-01-13. Springer Science and Business Media. Nueva York. 243. 978-1-4419-3159-7. 10.1007/978-0-387-21609-6. 41426624. 2016-07-27.
5. Web site: J.P. Euzéby . Methanococcales . 2011-11-17 . List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature (LPSN) . dead . https://lpsn.dsmz.de/genus/methanocaldococcus . 2013-01-27 .
6. Web site: Sayers. etal. Methanococcales . 2011-06-05 . National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) taxonomy database.
7. Web site: The LTP . 10 May 2023.
8. Web site: LTP_all tree in newick format. 10 May 2023.
9. Web site: LTP_06_2022 Release Notes. 10 May 2023.
10. Web site: GTDB release 08-RS214 . Genome Taxonomy Database. 10 May 2023.
11. Web site: ar53_r214.sp_label . Genome Taxonomy Database. 10 May 2023.
12. Web site: Taxon History . Genome Taxonomy Database. 10 May 2023.