Fiery Amoeba

A newfound organism thrives in record-breaking heat

- Andrea Thompson

Incendiamoeba cascadensis reproducing through mitosis

A TINY AMOEBA has broken a pretty big record.

The newly discovered species of single-celled organism can divide and reproduce at a piping hot 63 degrees Celsius (145 degrees Fahrenheit), a higher temperature than possible for any other known complex form of life. The discovery, described in a preprint study on the server bioRxiv and not yet peer-reviewed, “pushes the boundaries of our understanding of life’s limits on Earth and the implications for life beyond Earth—where else and how else life might be able to take hold and thrive,” says microbial ecologist and astrobiologist Luke McKay, who was not involved with the study.

Much of the existing research into extremophiles—lifeforms that thrive at extreme temperatures, acidity levels, or other environmental conditions—has concentrated on bacteria and archaea that lack a nucleus or membrane-bound cell organelles. The record-holding organism for withstanding high temperature is an archaean, Methanopyrus kandleri