Pyrococcus abyssi

Pyrococcus abyssi is a hyperthermophilic archaeon isolated from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent in the North Fiji Basin at 2000 m. It is anaerobic, sulfur-metabolizing, gram-negative, coccus-shaped and highly motile. Its optimum growth temperature is 96 C. Its type strain is GE5 (CNCM I-1302). Pyrococcus abyssi has been used as a model organism in studies of DNA polymerase. This species can also grow at high cell densities in bioreactors.