Thiobacillus ferrooxidans Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans is a bacterium that sustains its life cycle at extremely low pH values, and it is one of the very few organisms that gain energy from oxidating ferrous iron (Fe +II).

It can make copper from ores water-soluble, and it can sequester both carbon and nitrogen from the atmosphere.

[citation needed] During mining activities, the bacterium plays a crucial role in producing harmful acidic and metal-rich drainage water through the dissolution of sulfide minerals, but it also recovers precious dissolved metals.

[1] The ATCC 23270 type strain has one circular chromosome of 2.9 million base pairs and a G+C content of 59%.

Genes for chemotaxis and locomotion (flagella) have not been observed.