Skip to content

SYNOPTIC DESCRIPTION OF THE PHYLUM ANOXYBACTERIA

SYNOPTIC DESCRIPTION OF THE PHYLUM ANOXYBACTERIA (MARGULIS AND SCHWARTZ 1988)

EUBACTERIA> FIRMICUTAE> ANOXYBACTERIA
PHYLUM ANOXYBACTERIA LINKS

Description of Phylum

Hierarchical Classification

The following description comes mainly from Margulis and Schwartz (1998), Barnes (1984b), Brock et al. (1994), and Tudge (2000).
  • I. SYNONYMS: Fermenting bacteria, anaerobic Gram-positive bacteria.
  • II. PHYLUM CHARACTERISTICS:
    • A. Structure
      • Cell Form: Variable; rods (text with tooltip) A rod is an elongate cell form such that it has distinct ends (called poles). or cocci (text with tooltip) A coccus (cocci, pl.) is a spherical cell form. .
      • Cell Wall: Gram+ (text with tooltip) A Gram + cell retains the blue-black crystal-violet color following destaining with alcohol during the Gram Stain procedure. .
      • Motility (text with tooltip) Motile comes from the Latin, motus, a participle of the verb movere, which means to move. Although the Latin word means general movement, the Biological term means a cell or colony of cells that move by means of flagella. : Non-motile or motile.
    • B. Physiology
      • O2 Tolerance: Obligate (text with tooltip) An obligate anaerobe is a cell that is poisoned in the presence of free oxygen. anaerobes.
      • Substrates: Quite variable, they can ferment a wide variety of organic compounds.
      • Products: Fermentation products are quite varied; usually, they produce small organic acids, ethanol, CO2, NH3, and sometimes H2. Organisms like Clostridium (Figure A) release very powerful toxins.
    • C. Other: They do not tolerate oxygen; they are unable to synthesize porphyrins.
    • D. Ecology: Free-living in anaerobic soils and aquatic sediments, some parasites.
LITERATURE CITED

Arnon, S. S., R. Schechter, T. V. Inglesby, D. A. Henderson, J. G. Bartlett, M. S. Ascher, E. Eitzen, A. D. Fine, J. Hauer, M. Layton, S. Lillibridge, M. T. Osterholm, T. O’Toole, G. Parker, T. M. Perl, P. K. Russell, D. L. Swerdlow, K. Tonat. 2001, Botulism toxin as a biological weapon: Medical and public health management. JAMA. 285(8): 1059-1070.

Barnes, R. S. K. 1984b. Kingdom Monera. IN: Barnes, R.S.K., ed. A synoptic classification of living organisms. Sinauer Associates. Sunderland, Mass.

Bihari K. 2005. Safety, effectiveness, and duration of effect of BOTOX after switching from Dysport for blepharospasm, cervical dystonia, and hemifacial spasm dystonia, and hemifacial spasm. Curr. Med. Res. Opin. 21(3): 433–8.

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.

Carruthers, J. A., N. J. Lowe, M. A. Menter, J. Gibson, M. Nordquist, J. Mordaunt, P. Walker, and N. Eadie. 2002. A multicenter, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study of the efficacy and safety of botulism toxin type A in the treatment of glabellar lines. J. Am. Acad. Dermatol. 46(6): 840-849.

Collins, M. D., P. A. Lawson, A. Willems, J. J. Cordoba, J. Fernandez-Garayzabal, P. Garcia, J. Cai, H. Hippe, and J. A. E. Farrow. 1994. The phylogeny of the genus Clostridium: proposal of five new genera and eleven new species combinations. International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology. 44(4): 812-826.

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.

Krieg, N. R. 1984. Gram-negative aerobic rods and cocci. In: Krieg, N. R. and J. G. Holt, eds. Bergey´s Manual of Systematic Bacteriology, Vol. 1: 140-408.

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. 3rd Edition. W. H. Freeman and Co. New York.

McLaughlin, J., K. A. Grant, and C. L. Little. 2006. Food-borne butulism in the United Kingdom. Journal of Public Health. 28(4): 337-342.

Naumann M., Y. So, C. E. Argoff, M. K. Childers, D. D. Dykstra, G. S. Gronseth, B. Jabbari, H. C. Kaufmann, B. Schurch, S. D. Silberstein, and D. M. Simpson. 2008. Assessment: Botulinum neurotoxin in the treatment of autonomic disorders and pain (an evidence-based review): report of the Therapeutics and Technology Assessment Subcommittee of the American Academy of Neurology. Neurology. 70 (19): 1707–14.

Saito, A., M. Kawahara, S. Ikeda, M. Ishimine, S. Akao, and K. Minamisawa. 2008. Broad distribution and phylogeny of anaerobic endophytes of Cluster XIVa Clostridia in plant species including crops. Microbes. Environ. 23(1): 73-80.

Shantz, E. J. and E. A. Johnson. 1992. Microbiological Reviews. 56(1): 80-99.

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.

Wenham, T. and A. Cohen. 2008. Botulism. Continuing Education in Anesthesia. Critical Care and Pain. 8(1): 21-25.
By Jack R. Holt. Last revised: 02/11/2013
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Document Footer

Skip to toolbar