General Information: Methane-producing thermophilic archeon. Isolated from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent in the east Pacific Rise in 1982. This organism is an obligately anaerobic methane-producing archeon and was the first representative of the archaeal domain to be completely sequenced. The cells require a pH of 5.2-7 with 1.0-5.0% NaCl, optimal conditions are pH 6.0 and 3% NaCl. Fixes carbon dioxide to methane as its primary energy-producing biochemical pathway.