Thermotoga naphthophila is a hyperthermophilic, anaerobic, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped fermentative heterotroph, with type strain RKU-10T.

[6] Strains isolated from oil reservoirs, but not considered a part of the T. naphthophila clade include the following species: T. subterranean, T. hypogea, and T.

[3] Thermotoga naphthophila was discovered by Takahata et al. in the subterranean Kubiki oil reservoir of Niigata, Japan.

[3] Hydrochloric acid (HCl) was added to the sample at room temperature after taking out the yeast extract.

Containers of liquid medium were placed into 30 milliliter tubes and subsequently exposed to H2 reduced copper furnace heat with oxygen free nitrogen.

[3] Then, sodium sulfide brought the pH of the medium to a range of 6.9-7.1 and the species were purified with Gelrite plating, an agar substitute.

[3] Thermotoga naphthophila tolerance ranges for pH and sodium chloride (NaCl) concentrations were found using inoculated YE-mediums incubated at 80°C to view the species growth.

[3] Takahata et al. utilized a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and guanine and cytosine (GC) concentrations to collect metabolic product data from the species.

[3] A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique was used to amplify the DNA base sequence and collect the gyrase B (gyrB) subunit gene from true micro-organisms identified above.

[3] Thermotoga naphthophila and T. petrophila can grow at temperatures ranging between 47-88°C on yeast extract, peptone, glucose, fructose, ribose, arabinose, sucrose, lactose maltose and starch as sole carbon sources.

[3][5] It also possesses a unique morphology trait exclusive to the Thermotoga genus, an outer sheath-like structure dubbed a “toga”.

[3] According to the Takahata et al., lactate, acetate, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen gas are its end products from glucose fermentation.

[3] According to the previously mentioned article, the microbe's growth rate and cellular yield is not affected in the presence of thiosulfate.

[9] Microbes in the order Thermotogales are used for chemical and food industrial processes due to their extreme thermophilic activity.