| EUBACTERIA |
| The state of microbial taxonomy is chaotic at best. In part, bacterial taxonomists have retreated from standardized higher taxa (e.g. Garrity et al., 2001; Garrity et al., 2003; etc.) and have refused to create proper class and phylum names. Garrity et al. (2003) claim that they wish to avoid conflict with botanical nomenclature and, therefore, have designated phyla and classes with informal names. To add to the confusion, Garrity et al. (2001, 2003, and 2005) usually give the same names to their informal classes and phyla. Indeed, the only treatment that attempts to standardize the names of higher taxa in a formal way is Margulis and Schwartz (1998). The difficulty with their system, however, is that it is not consilient with recent molecular phylogenetic trees. Also, their adherence to the 5-kingdom system flies in the face of the fundamental three-domain system that has been with us since Woese and Fox (1977). |
- KINGDOM PROTEOBACTERIAE
- PHYLUM ALPHAPROTEOBACTERIA (2 CLASSES)
- PHYLUM BETAPROTEOBACTERIA (1 CLASS)
- PHYLUM GAMMAPROTEOBACTERIA (2 CLASSES)
- PHYLUM DELTAPROTEOBACTERIA (2 CLASSES)
- PHYLUM EPSILONPROTEOBACTERIA (1 CLASS)
- KINGDOM SPIROCHAETAE
- PHYLUM SPIROCHAETOBACTERIA (1 CLASS)
- KINGDOM OXYPHOTOBACTERIA
- PHYLUM CYANOBACTERIA (4 CLASSES)
- KINGDOM SAPROSPIRAE
- PHYLUM SAPROSPOBACTERIA (1 CLASS)
- KINGDOM CHLOROFLEXAE
- PHYLUM CHLOROFLEXOBACTERIA (1 CLASS)
- KINGDOM CHLOROSULFATAE
- PHYLUM CHLOROBACTERIA (1 CLASS)
- KINGDOM PIRELLAE
- PHYLUM PIRELLOBACTERIA (2 CLASSES)
- KINGDOM FIRMICUTAE
- PHYLUM APHRAGMABACTERIA (1 CLASS)
- PHYLUM ANOXYBACTERIA (3 CLASSES)
- PHYLUM ENDOSPOROBACTERIA (2 CLASSES)
- PHYLUM ACTINOBACTERIA (5 CLASSES)
- PHYLUM DEINOCOCCOBACTERIA (1 CLASS)
- KINGDOM THERMOTOGAE
- PHYLUM THERMOBACTERIA (2 CLASSES)
| LITERATURE CITED Black, J. G. 2002. Microbiology, Principles and Explorations. 5th ed. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. New York. Brock, T. D., M.T. Madigan, J.M. Martinko, and J. Parker. 1994. Biology of Microorganisms. 7th ed. Prentice Hall. Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Gao, B. and R. S. Gupta. 2007. Phylogenetic analysis of proteins that are distinctive of Archaea and its main subgroups and the origin of methanogenesis. BMC Genomics. 8:86. http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/8/86. Garrity, G. M., M. Winters, and D. Searles. 2001. Bergey’s manual of systematic bacteriology. 2nd ed. Springer-Verlag. New York. Garrity, G. M., J. A. Bell, and T. G. Lilburn. 2003. Taxonomic Outline of the Prokaryotes. Bergey’s Manual of Systematic Bacteriology. 2nd edition. Release 4.0. Springer-Verlag. New York. pp. 1-397. Margulis, L. and K. Schwartz. 1988. Five kingdoms, an illustrated guide to the phyla of life on earth. 2nd Edition. W. H. Freeman and Co. New York. Margulis, L. and K. Schwartz. 1998. Five kingdoms, an illustrated guide to the phyla of life on earth. 3nd Edition. W. H. Freeman and Co. New York. Tudge, C. 2000. The Variety of Life, A Survey and a Celebration of all the Creatures That Have Ever Lived. Oxford University Press. New York. Woese, C. R. and G. E. Fox. 1977. Phylogenetic structure of the prokaryotic domain: the primary kingdoms. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA . 74:5088-5090. Woese, C. R., O. Kandler, and M. L. Wheelis. 1990. Towards a natural system of organisms: Proposal for the domains Archaea, Bacteria, and Eucarya. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 87: 4576-4579. |
| By Jack R. Holt. Last revised: 02/17/2010 |
