The species is capable of reproducing at 145°F and continuing to move up to temperatures of 147°F – a record for complex eukaryotic life – though after this summer 147 doesn’t even seem that extreme.
Pls in Celcius
The original paper gives the temperatures in Celsius:
For decades after their discovery, no eukaryote was shown to replicate above 60°C. We isolated a geothermal amoeba, Incendiamoeba cascadensis, that divides at 63°C and is motile up to 64°C. […] The minimum growth temperature is 42°C, with no growth at 40°C or lower; optimal growth is at 55°C–57°C (Figure 2A; Table S6), and maximum growth is at 63°C, with no growth at 64°C or higher.
145F = ~62.78C
I’m reading Intraterrestrials, by Karen G Lloyd right now. Very interesting book on this subject. So much crazy life out there
This is pretty cool to see…
Bhattacharya says that in other extremophiles, their genomes have become more compact. “It’s called genome streamlining,” he says, “so they can then compete with bacteria which have smaller genomes and live in these harsh environments.”
This isn’t the case with the fire amoeba, which has a larger genome than its relatives. “It’s taken a different path,” says Bhattacharya, “so I think that’s really interesting.”
