Nutrition and Growth

(C)1997 Sophie Elkins~arial view of a hot spring

    Thermus aquaticus is a very hardy and tough bacteria. Thermus aquaticus grows best in complex media such as 0.1-0.3% tryptone yeast extract.  Thermus aquaticus is both heterotrophic and chemoautotrophic. This is due to the fact that it obtains nourishment through both oxidation of inorganic chemical compounds and by utilizing organic materials as a food source.

Nutrients Thermus aquaticus thrives on:

• nitrogen sources
• amino acids
• NH4+
• carbon sources
• sugars
• organic acids

   

The carbon sources consist of several sugars and organic acids. The main nitrogen source is  NH4  glutamate.

The Growth of all isolates of Thermus aquaticus is inhibited by a fairly low concentration of:

• cycloserine

  streptomycin

• penicillin
• novobiocin
• tetracycline
• chloramphenicol