Sulfolobus solfataricus

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Saccharolobus solfataricus is a species of thermophilic archaeon. It was transferred from the genus Sulfolobus to the new genus Saccharolobus with the description of Saccharolobus caldissimus in 2018.^[1]

It was first discovered and isolated from the Solfatara volcano (Pisciarelli-Campania, Italy) in 1980 by two German microbiologists Karl Setter and Wolfram Zillig.^[2]

However, these organisms are not isolated to volcanoes but are found all over the world in places such as hot springs. The species grows best in temperatures around 80 °C, a pH level between 2 and 4, and with enough sulfur for S. solfataricus to metabolize in order to gain energy. These conditions qualify it as an extremophile and it is specifically known as a thermoacidophile because of its preference for high temperatures and low pH levels. It is also aerobic and heterotropic due to its metabolic system.^[3] Being an autotroph, it receives energy by growing on sulfur or even a variety of organic compounds.^[4] It usually has a spherical cell shape and it makes frequent lobes.

Currently, it is the most widely studied organism within the Thermoproteota branch. Solfataricus are examined for their methods of DNA replication, cell cycle, chromosomal integration, transcription, RNA processing, and translation. All of the data points to the organism having a large percent of archaeal-specific genes, which shows the differences between the three types of microbes: archaea, bacteria, and eukaryote.