Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

IDENTIFICATION OF THE ARCHAEON PICROPHILUS TORRIDUS ISOLATED AND CULTURED FROM TANGKUBAN PERAHU AND DIENG PLATEAU ON JAVA ISLAND, INDONESIA

Chris Adhiyanto, Nurlaely M. Rahmawati, Yardi Saibi, Narila Mutia Nasir, Hari Hendarto, Flori R. Sari, Zeti Harriyati, Fika Ekayanti, Paul Schnitzler and Hans-Joachim Freisleben

Abstract

Indonesia is a tropical country consisting of about 17,000 islands and located in the ring of fire that is rich in geothermal activities and biodiversity, from the deepest seas to the mountain peaks. Knowledge about microbial ecology, especially concerning Archaea is still scarce in Indonesia. These microorganisms often live in extreme areas at hot temperatures and acidic conditions of volcano craters and solfatara mudholes and fumaroles. Sampling from Tangkuban Perahu and Dieng Plateau and subsequent culturing at 60 oC and pH around 1 now led to the identification of Picrophilus torridus, a member of the order Thermoplasmatales. The Picrophilus genus had not yet been reported from Indonesia, before.