science

Spirochaeta thermophila

Spirochaeta thermophila is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Spirochaeta thermophila rather than just read about it. In short: Spirochaeta thermophila is a fairly recently discovered free-living, anaerobic, spirochaete that seems to be the most thermophilic of the Spirochaetales order. The type species was discovered in 1992 in Kuril islands, Russia and described in Aksenova, et al.

Key takeaways

Spirochaeta thermophila belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Spirochaeta thermophila to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Spirochaeta thermophila from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Spirochaeta thermophila is a fairly recently discovered free-living, anaerobic, spirochaete that seems to be the most thermophilic of the Spirochaetales order. The type species was discovered in 1992 in Kuril islands, Russia and described in Aksenova, et al. It has been isolated in the sediments and water columns of brackish aquatic habitats of various ponds, lakes, rivers, and oceans. This organism is identified as a new species based on its unique ability to degrade cellulose, xylan, and other α- and β-linked sugars and use them as the sole carbon source by encoding many glycoside hydrolases. It is presumed to secrete cellulases to break down plant-matter around it but there has been little work on the characterization of the enzymes responsible for this.

Original description The original description depicts single, helical, .2-.25 μm by 16-50 μm Gram-negative cells. The temperature range for survival of Spirochaeta thermophila is between 40° and 73° C with an optimum range between 66° and 68 °C. The pH range for survival was measured from 5.9 to 7.7 with an optimum of 7.5. The G + C content measured was approximately 52% in the 1992 description but has been measured around 70% since that time. The original description also noted that organisms of the same species isolated from different environments could have different optimum temperatures, optimum pH for growth, and optimum saline concentrations; these would change based on the environment in which the organism is living.

Glucose fermentation pathway The fermentation process is the same Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas pathway of glycolysis with the exception of one step. The phosphorylation of fructose-6-phosphate mediates the production of pyrophosphate-dependent (PPi-dependent) phosphofrucktokinase instead of the usual ATP-dependent phosphofrucktokinase. This appears to be a characteristic of Spirochaeta thermophila not found in other Spirochaeta species. It is suggested that this different product could be a regulatory mechanism for catabolic processes; with low levels of the ATP-dependent molecule, AMP is produced. AMP drives the production of PPi production for the step that is changed in the glycolysis pathway. The PPi-dependent phosphofrucktokinase sequences are only available from three organisms in the Spirochaetales order: Spirochaeta thermophila, Borrelia burgdorferi, and Treponema pallidum. Comparing the sequences, in a 2001 study by Rominus et al., it was determined that S. thermophila was most closely related to T. pallidum for this sequence and the sister to those groups was B. burgedorferi. This analysis showed the thermophily of S. thermophila and T. pallidum arose from a common ancestor between them and B. burgdorferi that was a mesophile. This was an interesting revelation because it was previously assumed that the thermophilic, free-living spirochaetes gave rise to all extant spirochaetes.

References

External links Type strain of Spirochaeta thermophila at BacDive - the Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Spirochaeta thermophila

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Spirochaeta thermophila claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Spirochaeta thermophila before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Spirochaeta thermophila ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Spirochaeta thermophila

In research: Spirochaeta thermophila appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Spirochaeta thermophila in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Spirochaeta thermophila is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Bacteria described in 1992, Spirochaetes, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Spirochaeta thermophila outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Spirochaeta thermophila” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Spirochaeta thermophila in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Spirochaeta thermophila means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Spirochaeta thermophila out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Spirochaeta thermophila in simple terms?

Why does Spirochaeta thermophila matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Spirochaeta thermophila?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Spirochaeta thermophila.