<p><span style="font-size: small"><span style="color: #000000"><i><b>Methanocaldococcus</b></i> formerly known as <i><b>Methanococcus</b></i> is a genus of </span><span style="color: #000000">coccoid</span><span style="color: #000000">methanogens</span><span style="color: #000000">. They are all </span><span style="color: #000000">mesophiles</span><span style="color: #000000">, except the </span><span style="color: #000000">thermophilic</span><span style="color: #000000"> <i>M. thermolithotrophicus</i> thermolithotrophicus and the </span><span style="color: #000000">hyperthermophilic</span><span style="color: #000000"> <ib>M. jannaschii</ib>. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small"><span style="color: #000000">The latter was discovered at the base of a &ldquo;white smoker&rdquo; chimney at 21&deg;</span><span style="color: #000000">N</span><span style="color: #000000"> on the </span><span style="color: #000000">East Pacific Rise</span><span style="color: #000000"><sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><font size="2">[2]</font></sup> and it was the first </span><span style="color: #000000">archaean</span><span style="color: #000000">genome</span><span style="color: #000000"> to be completely sequenced, revealing many novel and </span><span style="color: #000000">eukaryote</span><span style="color: #000000">-like elements.</span><sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><span style="color: #000000">[3]</span></sup></span></p><p><span style="font -size: small"><span style="2color: #000000"><span class="mw-headline">[3]M. jannaschii is the first archae bacterium to be sequenced by Craig Venter's group.</fontspan></span></supspan></p><h2p><b><span style="font-size: large"><span style="color: #000000"><span id="References" class="mw-headline">References</span></span></h2span></b></p>

<h2p><b><span style="font-size: large"><span style="color: #000000"><span id="Further_reading" class="mw-headline">Further reading</span></span></h2span></b></p>