Living in near-boiling water at 100°C, a bacterium discovered by UI scientists becomes a rare source of enzymes
A team of researchers from Universitas Indonesia has discovered a new species of thermophilic bacterium capable of living in temperatures approaching the boiling point of water, with considerable potential for industrial and health applications.
The bacterium has been named Thermus javaensis and was identified by a team from the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (FMIPA) at Universitas Indonesia, led by Prof. Wellyzar Sjamsuridzal, together with Dr. Fitria Ningsih, Dr. Mazytha K. Rachmania, and Dhian Chitra Ayu Fitria Sari.
“The discovery of Thermus javaensis shows that Indonesia’s geothermal ecosystems are a biodiversity hotspot harbouring a vast and largely unexplored diversity of microorganisms,” said Prof. Wellyzar in Depok on Tuesday.
The discovery has been published in the international journal International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, 2026 edition, and represents the first Thermus species described from an Indonesian geothermal region.
The name “javaensis” is derived from Java Island, the location where the bacterium was first found. The research also involved international collaborators from RIKEN and the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB).
Living in extreme temperatures
Thermus javaensis was found around a geothermal geyser vent at Cisolok, where temperatures are near the boiling point of water, around 100 degrees Celsius. Such extreme environments are typically uninhabitable for most organisms.
The bacterium is known to grow at 45–80°C, with an optimum around 60–65°C. Morphologically, the bacterium has a yellow pigment, rod-shaped, and possesses a unique structure known as rotund bodies—a rounded form rarely found in other Thermus members.
The presence of these structures attracted researchers’ attention because they were previously also found in Thermus aquaticus, the well-known bacterium that produces the enzyme Taq polymerase, which underpins PCR technology for disease diagnosis and modern molecular biology.
More than a decade of research
This discovery is the result of long-running research that began in 2012 through exploration of microorganisms in the Cisolok geothermal area. Sampling of this species was carried out in 2015.
The identification process took years, involving microbial isolation, genetic analysis, whole genome sequencing (WGS), and biochemical and microscopic characterisation at UI laboratories and a number of international partner laboratories.