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Discovery of the 'fire amoeba', the only known complex life form that thrives at temperatures above 60°C
An American team of researchers from Syracuse University (USA) has discovered in California's Lassen Volcanic National Park a new species of amoeba capable of surviving temperatures that would kill any other known complex life form. The tiny organism can feed and reproduce in hot springs up to 63 °C and is able to withstand 70 °C by changing shape and forming an external protective layer. Not surprisingly, they have named it the 'fire amoeba'. 'This finding expands the limits of what we believed possible, which is incredibly exciting,' says Angela Oliverio, the study's lead author, in the study published this Tuesday in the journal Cell. The record for the organism growing at the highest temperature belongs to Methanopyrus kandleri, a relatively simple archaeon that lives at 122 °C around hydrothermal vents in the depths of the oceans. For decades, researchers have considered 60 °C the upper limit for eukaryotes, which are organisms with complex cells, such as animals, plants,