Abstract
Na.no.clep'ta. Gr. masc. n.
nânos,
a dwarf; Gr. masc. n.
kleptês,
a thief; N.L. masc. n.
Nanoclepta,
a small thief, a small organism that steals from its host.
The genus
Candidatus
Nanoclepta currently comprises a single species,
Candidatus
Nanoclepta minutus Ncl‐1, an anaerobic hyperthermophile (optimal growth observed from 80 to 85°C) cultivated from a New Zealand hot spring. Cells are ultra‐small cocci (∼200 nm) with archaeal flagella and are cultivated in near‐neutral pH conditions (pH ∼6.0). Like several other
Nanoarchaeota
,
Ca
. N. minutus cells are epibionts on the surface of a host from the
Crenarchaeota
. Although this symbiosis is obligate for
Ca
. N. minutus, the relationship is not required for the host,
Zestosphaera tikiterensis
NZ3
T
, which can survive as a free‐living organism.
Ca
. N. minutus has a highly reduced genome (∼0.58 Mb) with minimal biosynthetic potential and no detected ATP synthase genes, and
Ca
. Nanoclepta cells likely rely on their host for many metabolic precursors.
DNA G + C content (mol%)
:
32.2 (genome analysis).
Type species
:
Candidatus Nanoclepta minutus
St. John et al. 2019a.
Taxonomic and Nomenclature Notes
According to the List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature (LPSN), the taxonomic status of the genus
Candidatus Nanoclepta
is: preferred name (not correct name) (last update, February 2025)
*
.
LPSN classification:
Archaea
/
Nanobdellati
/
Nanobdellota
/
Nanobdellia
/
Nanobdellales
/
Nanobdellaceae
/
Candidatus Nanoclepta
The genus
Candidatus Nanoclepta
can also be recovered in the Genome Taxonomy Database (GTDB) as
g__Nanoclepta
(version v220)
**
.
GTDB classification:
d__Archaea
/
p__Nanoarchaeota
/
c__Nanoarchaeia
/
o__Nanoarchaeales
/
f__Nanopusillaceae
/
g__Nanoclepta
*
Meier‐Kolthoff
et al. (
2022
).
Nucleic Acids Res
,
50
,
D801
–
D807
; DOI:
10.1093/nar/gkab902
**
Parks
et al. (
2022
).
Nucleic Acids Res
,
50
,
D785
–
D794
; DOI:
10.1093/nar/gkab776