moorella thermoacetica moorella thermoacetica moorella thermoacetica, previously known as clostridium thermoaceticum, is an acetogenic, thermophilic, strictly anaerobic, endospore-forming, bacterium belonging to the phylum bacillota. moorella thermoacetica scientific classification domain: bacteria phylum: bacillota class: clostridia order: thermoanaerobacterales family: thermoanaerobacteriaceae genus: moorella species: m. thermoacetica binomial name moorella thermoaceticacollins et al. 1994 synonyms clostridium thermoaceticum researchers at the lawrence berkeley national laboratory, including peidong yang, were able to induce m. thermoacetica to photosynthesize, despite its not being photosynthetic. it also synthesized semiconductor nanoparticles, thus using light to produce chemical products other than those produced in photosynthesis.