Thermus scotoductus SA-01 genome sequencing project. Thermus scotoductus SA-01

Thermus scotoductus SA-01. Thermus scotoductus SA-01 was isolated from fissure water in a South African gold mine. This organism is a thermophilic bacterium which was isolated from fissure water in the Witwatersrand Supergroup at a depth of 3.2 km below surface in a South African gold mine. It is a 2.9-billion-year-old formation of low permeability sandstone and shale with minor volcanic units and conglomerates. The ambient temperature of the rock is approximately 60°C. Samples were collected from a freshly mined rock surface and from a water-producing borehole that penetrated 121 m horizontally into the formation at a depth of 3,198 m. T. scotoductus SA-01 is a facultative anaerobe capable of coupling the oxidation of organic substrates to reduction of a wide range of electron acceptors, including nitrate, Fe(III), Mn(IV) or S(0) as terminal electron acceptors. Cell suspensions are capable of reducing Co(III)- EDTA, Cr(VI), U(VI), Tc(VII) and the quinone-containing compound anthraquinone-2,6-isulfonate has been demonstrated. The optimum temperature for growth and Fe(III) reduction by Thermus scotoductus SA-01 is approximately 65°C and the optimum pH is 6.5 to 7.0.