Thermus thermophilus is a Gram-negative bacterium used in a range of biotechnological applications, including as a model organism for genetic manipulation, structural genomics, and systems biology.

Thermus thermophilus was originally isolated from a thermal vent within a hot spring in Izu, Japan by Tairo Oshima and Kazutomo Imahori.

[4] Thermus thermophilus is a Gram-negative bacterium with an outer membrane that is composed of phospholipids and lipopolysaccharides.

The presence of Ala, Glu, Gly, Orn, N-acetyl glucosamine and N-acetylmuramic were found in the murein layer of this bacterium.

Another unique feature of this murein layer is that the N-terminal Gly is substituted with phenylacetic acid.

[7] This organism has been advantageous for industrial biotechnological fields as it is an excellent source of enzymes, more specifically thermozymes.