HOT PEANUTS: A NEW PHOTOTROPH THAT LIVES THE HARD LIFE

We investigate the properties of a new marine phototrophic bacterium that we cultured and nicknamed ‘Hot Peanuts’ based on its shape and growth at high temperature. We are studying its physiology and metabolism by analyzing its growth, its genome, and images from electron microscopy. We discover that this bacterium carries out the energetically intensive processes of carbon and nitrogen fixation and growth on hydrogen gas as an energy source.