SREL Reprint #2958

Thermophilic Temperature Optimum for Crenarchaeol Synthesis and Its Implication for Archaeal Evolution

Chuanlun L. Zhang1, Ann Pearson2, Yi-Liang Li1, Gary Mills1, and Juergen Wiegel3

1Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia, Aiken, South Carolina 29802
2Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
3Department of Microbiology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30605

Abstract: The isoprenoid lipid crenarchaeol is widespread in hot springs of California and Nevada. Terrestrial and marine data together suggest a maximum relative abundance of crenarchaeol at ~40°C. This warm temperature optimum may have facilitated colonization of the ocean by (hyper)thermophilic Archaea and the major marine radiation of Crenarchaeota.

Keywords: Ambystoma opacum, catastrophic reproductive failure, extinction, larval density dependence, pond-breeding salamander, population model, storage effects, terrestrial survival

SREL Reprint #2958

Zhang, C. L., A. Pearson, Y. Li, G. Mills, and J. Wiegel. 2006. Thermophilic Temperature Optimum for Crenarchaeol Synthesis and Its Implication for Archaeal Evolution. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 72(6): 4419-4422.

This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).