On this page you will find a few of the interesting bacteria found out one of the nations most fascinating and diverse parks. Feel free to add to the page, or change it around a bit.

Thermus Aquaticus
Thermus Aquaticus is known to be a gram-positive bacteria that was first discovered in 1969 at Yellowstone National Park. At the time of the discovery, it was believed that life could not be sustained at such high temperatrues in which it was found. At that time it was believed that preferred temperature for thermophilic bacterias was 131F with the maximum temperature possible being 163F.
Thermus Aquaticus was discovered in a spring near Great Basin Geyser, that at the time had a temperature of 158F, the best temperature for it to grow in. Thermus Aquaticus can be found in the temperature range of 122-176F through out the world. Of course it is also classified to be a thermophile, defined as being an organism that can live and reproduce at temperatures that are 110F or above. As a result of the large temerpature range of thermus aquaticus, it overlaps some of the range of other photosynthetic bacteria and can live in corelation with it. It is often found along side cyanobacteria and actually gets energy for growth from it and other photosynthetic organsims.
Thermus aquaticus can reproduce both sexually, by releasing an spore that will meet with another spore to reproduce, and asexually through mitosis. It is also considered to be a chemotroph since it obtains food by chemosynthesis.
T. Aquaticus has become a well known source of producing temperature stable enzymes in use for various studies and genetic research. It is most known for it's use in the DNA polymerase "Taq Pol".


Candidatus Chloracidobacterium Thermophilum
Candidatus Chloracidobacterium (Cab.) Thermophilum was only just recently discovered in July of 2007 and is only one of the 5 known bacteria in the world that can use light to produce energy by photosynthesis like plants do. This process was known to be a soley plant trait that has only recently been discovered that some bacterial organsims are capable of. This bacteria was found in the pond scum of a few of the hot springs of Yellowstone National Park, namely the in the Mushroom Spring, Octopus Spring, and the Green Finger Pool in the Lower Geyser Basin. This bacteria is completely different from other bacteria that lives and thrives in these hot springs. Cab. Thermophilum has light-harvesting antennae,called chlorosomes, that have 250,000 chlorophylls each. It also has the honor of being the first aerobic microbe to make chlorosomes with it's closest relatives found in found around Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone and other hot springs found in Tibet and Thailand.