Cellular polyamines of 44 newly validated eubacterial thermophiles growing at 45-80°C, belonging to eight orders (six phyla) of the domain Bacteria, were analyzed by HPLC and GC. A quaternary branched penta-amine, N⁴-bis(aminopropyl)norspermidine, was found in Hydrogenivirga and Sulfurihydrogenibium belonging to the order of Aquificales. Another quaternary branched penta-amine, N⁴-bis(aminopropyl) spermidine, was detected in Thermovibrio, Desulfurobacterium (Aquificales), Moorella, Desul-fovirgula (Thermoanaerobacteriales), Thermaerobacter (Clostridiales), Caldalkalibacillus, Thermobacillus (Bacillales), and Desulfothermus (Desulfovibrionales of the phylum Proteobacteria). The two branched penta- amines as well as linear penta- and hexa-amines were produced by Thermus species of the order Thermales. Marinitoga and Fervidobacterium (Thermotogales) contained linear penta-amines. The production of these long polyamines was dependent on culture temperature and remarkable at 70-80°C in the extreme/ hyper-thermophiles and to alkaline medium pH 8.5-9.0 in moderately thermophilic bacilli. The long polyamines were not detected in moderately thermophilic Anaerolinea (Anaerolineales of the phylum Chloroflexi). Distribution of either or both long linear polyamines and/or quaternary branched polyamines in the extreme/hyper-thermophiles is also reflected in their phylogenetical evolved locations.

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Cellular polyamines acid-extracted from fourteen archaea (archaebacteria) belonging to the phyla, Euryarchaeota and Crenarchaeota, including nine newly validated species, grown under different culture conditions were analyzed using HPLC and GC. The following archaebacteria were studied: moderately thermophilic Methanothermobacter, Ferroplasma, Thermogymnomonas, and Acidianus species; a slightly thermophilic methanogen, Methanolinea tarda, and a mesophilic methanogen, Methanosaeta contilii, contained triamines and tetra-amines. Hyperthermophilic Thermococcus, Pyrococcus, and Ignicoccus contained a quaternary branched penta-amine, N⁴-bis(aminopropyl)spermidine, and two linear penta-amines, in addition to triamines and tetra-amines, respectively. When Thermococcus, Pyrococcus, and Sulfurisphaera species were cultivated under different growth temperatures (60-100°C) and salt concentrations (0.15%-2.5% NaCl), temperature and salt dependent long or branched polyamine syntheses, increasing under higher temperatures and higher salt conditions, were observed.

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