What is the difference between a thermophile and a chemophile? ?
A thermophile is a microbe that lives at a temperature of 55 degrees celcius or higher, optimum is often 55-65 degree celcius, which is HOT! I never heard of the term “chemophile”, do you mean chemotroph? Chemotrophs are organisms that get their energry sources from oxidation of organic or inorganic compounds. As you can see there is a difference between these two terms. Chemotrophs are quite diverse in the environments they live in and yes there can be some that live in cold temperatures. A lot of thermophiles are chemotrophs and they usually get their energy from sulfur for growth and hot springs and volcanic places are rich in sulfur. They have proteins that are very stablizied in this temperature in order to work.
