GENOME ANNOUNCEMENT Draft Genome Sequence of the Extremely Acidophilic Bacterium Acidithiobacillus caldus ATCC 51756 Reveals Metabolic Versatility in the Genus Acidithiobacillus

. These bacteria live in ex-tremely acidic environments (pH 1 to 3) typically associatedwith copper mining operations (bioleaching) (15, 17) and nat-ural acid drainage systems (7). All of these bacteria have thecapacity to gain energy by the oxidation of sulfur and reducedinorganic sulfur compounds and to thrive in extremely highconcentrations of heavy metals (16). Of the three species,