Thermus

Thermus is a genus of thermophilic bacteria. It is one of several bacteria belonging to the Deinococcota phylum. According to comparative analysis of 16S rRNA, this is one the most ancient group of bacteria Thermus species can be distinguished from other genera in the family Thermaceae as well as all other bacteria by the presence of eight conserved signature indels found in proteins such as adenylate kinase and replicative DNA helicase as well as 14 conserved signature proteins that are exclusively shared by members of this genus.

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

Between all its species, T. thermophilus has a special importance as a model organism for basic and applied research.

Species incertae sedis:
 * "T. anatoliensis" Kacagan et al. 2016
 * "T. caldophilus" Taguchi et al. 1983
 * "T. eggertssonii" Peters 2008
 * "T. murrieta" Benner et al. 2006
 * "T. nonproteolyticus" 1992
 * "T. rehai" Lin et al. 2002
 * "T. yunnanensis" Gong et al. 2005

Habitats
The strains of the genus Thermus are generally isolated from hydrothermal areas where the range of water temperature is 55–70 °C and that of pH is 5.0–10.5.

The first isolate of the genus Thermus was isolated from hydrothermal areas in Yellowstone National Park. Later on more isolates were obtained from several hydrothermal areas worldwide, such as in Japan,  Iceland, New Zealand, New Mexico or the Australian Artesian Basin.