Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various organisms, such as certain bacteria, requiring temperatures between 45°C and 80°C to thrive.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Same as thermophilic.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun biology An organism that lives and thrives at relatively high temperatures; a form of extremophile; many are members of the Archaea.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

thermo- + -phile

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Examples

  • And they're replenished every year, leading scientists to speculate that warmth-loving "thermophile" bacteria originating in hot underwater crusts ride deep sea currents to the Arctic.

    EurekAlert! - Breaking News 2010

  • The first report of targeted metabolic engineering of a cellulose-fermenting thermophile, Clostridium thermocellum, leading to a reduced production of unwanted organic acid byproducts; and

    Sustainable Design Update » Blog Archive » New Process Promises Better and Cheaper Ethanol 2009

  • A.D. Coutts and R.E. Smith, "Factors Influencing the Production of Cellulases by Sporotrichum thermophile," Appl.E.v. Microbioh 31 (6): 819 18.

    Chapter 8 1979

  • Though one dramatist had suggested that Venus might harbor dinosaur-like creatures that thrived on sulfur compounds, no creature larger than a microbe could survive Venus's searing heat, nor does any model exist for the finding of a thermophile or similar extremophile in that environment.

    Conservapedia - Recent changes [en] 2010

  • Barabote RD, Xie G, Leu DH, Normand P, Necsulea A, et al. (2009) Complete genome of the cellulolytic thermophile Acidothermus cellulolyticus 11B provides insights into its ecophysiological and evolutionary adaptations.

    PLoS ONE Alerts: New Articles Jenna L. Morgan et al. 2010

  • Pushing the upper temperature at which E. coli could grow to 48.5 degrees C. does not approach the level of heat resistance found in thermophile species, but what this experiment required was a distinct and significant redefinition of "extreme" for E. coli.

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2010

  • At the core of the TMO process is a talented, heat-loving bacterium (a thermophile) that is able to grow at high temperatures (60°C-70°C).

    The Earth Times Online Newspaper 2010

  • At the core of the TMO process is a talented, heat-loving bacterium (a thermophile) that is able to grow at high temperatures (60°C-70°C).

    The Earth Times Online Newspaper 2010

  • At the core of the TMO process is a talented, heat-loving bacterium (a thermophile) that is able to grow at high temperatures (60°C-70°C).

    The Earth Times Online Newspaper 2010

  • At the core of the TMO process is a talented, heat-loving bacterium (a thermophile) that is able to grow at high temperatures (60°C-70°C).

    The Earth Times Online Newspaper 2010

  • Martin’s genetic analysis also found evidence suggesting it was a “thermophile,” a heat-loving microbe, that fed on hydrogen gas (H2).

    Our last common ancestor lived 4.2 billion years ago—perhaps hundreds of millions of years earlier than thought

Comments

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  • My cat chases sunlight in pathces

    And bathes in the warmth that attaches.

    Devout thermophile,

    She'll squirm for a while

    Then nap in each one that she catches.

    August 3, 2017