Nitratiruptor

Nitratiruptor sp. (strain SB155-2) is a genus of deep sea gram-negative Campylobacterota isolated from Iheya North Hydrothermal field in Okinawa Trough (Japan). This rod-shaped microorganism (0.5 x 1.5 μm) grows chemolithoautotrophically in a wide variety of electron donors and acceptors (i.e. sulfur, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrate) in absence of light and oxygen. It is also a thermophilic group capable of growing within the range of 37–65 °C with the optimal at 55 °C.

Genetic features
Nitratiruptor sp. genome is composed by a single circular chromosome of 1,877,931 bp with the GC content of 43.8% and 39.7%. Due to the geochemical variability in the deep-sea hydrothermal vents, Nitratiruptor sp. displays a metabolic versatility to adapt to this hostile environments which includes sharp gradients in energy sources, electron acceptors or carbon sources. For instance, due to the metal-rich fluids characterizing this areas, a total of 17 genes related with transports systems and detoxification mechanisms of heavy metals (including As, Cd and Cu) were described. Despite this not being a pathogenic bacterium, it possess some virulence genes (including virulence factor mviN, hemolysin or N-linked glycosylation gene cluster) which provide insights into the origins of virulence in their pathogenic relatives, Helicobacter and Campylobacter species.

Phylogeny
The currently accepted taxonomy is based on the List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature (LPSN) and National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)