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SYNOPTIC DESCRIPTION OF THE PHYLUM DEINOCOCCOBACTERIA

SYNOPTIC DESCRIPTION OF THE PHYLUM DEINOCOCCOBACTERIA (MARGULIS AND SCHWARTZ 1998)

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PHYLUM DEINOCOCCOBACTERIA LINKS

Description of Phylum

Hierarchical Classification

The following description comes mainly from Margulis and Schwartz (1998), Brock et al. (1994), and Tudge (2000).
  • I. SYNONYMS: Deinococci; Radiation-Resistant or Heat-Resistant Gram-Positive Bacteria.
  • II. PHYLUM CHARACTERISTICS:
    • A. Structure
      • Cell Form: Cocci (text with tooltip) A coccus (cocci, pl.) is a spherical cell form. and rods (text with tooltip) A rod is an elongate cell form such that it has distinct ends (called poles). .
      • Cell Wall: Gram positive; often complex with many layers; Peptidoglycan in wall uses ornithine for cross-linkage; although Gram-positive, it has an outer membrane; bright pink due to carotenoids (text with tooltip) Carotenoids are accessory pigments that are fat-soluable. Generally orange, red, yellow, or brown, carotenoids come in two major classes: carotenes and xanthophylls. .
      • Motility: Non-motile.
    • B. Physiology
      • O2 TOLERANCE: Aerobes.
      • Substrates: Deinococci utilize cytochromes and menaquinones in respiratory pathways. Most metabolize sugars.
      • Products: Generally to water and CO2.
    • C. Other: Contain catalyase and an outer membrane that is not like that of the Gram-negative bacteria.
    • D. Ecology: Free-living in hot springs. Some have been found in the cooling water for nuclear reactors where the radiation dosage is thousands of times that of the lethal dosage for human beings.
LITERATURE CITED

Anderson, A. W., H. C. Nordon, R. F. Cain, G. Parrish, and D. Duggan. 1956. Studies on a radio-resistant micrococcus. I. Isolation, morphology, cultural characteristics, and resistance to gamma radiation. Food Technol. 10: 575-578.

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

Black, J. G. 2002. Microbiology, Principles and Explorations. 5th ed. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. New York.
Brim, H., S. C. McFarlan, J. K. Fredrickson, K. W. Minton, M. Zhai, L. P. Wackett, and M. J. Daly. 2000. Engineering Deinococcus radiodurans for metal remediation in radioactive mixed waste environments. Nature Biotechnology 18: 85-90.

H. Brim, A. Venkateswaran, H. M. Kostandarithes, J. K. Fredrickson, and M. J. Daly. 2003. Genetic Development of Deinococcus geothermalis for bioremediation of high temperature radioactive waste environments. Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 69, 4575-4582.

Brock, T. D. and H. Freeze. 1969. Thermus aquaticus gen. n. and sp. n., a non-sporulating extreme thermophile. Journal of Bacteriology. 98(1): 289-297.

Brock, T. D., M. T. Madigan, J. M. Martinko, and J. Parker. 1994. Biology of Microorganisms. 7th ed. Prentice Hall. Englewood Cliffs, NJ.

Brooks, B. W. and R. G. E. Murray. 1981. Nomenclature for “Micrococcus radiodurans” and other radiation-resistant cocci: Deinococcaceae fam. nov., and Deinococcus gen. nov., including five species. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 31: 353-360.

Chien, A., D. B. Edgar, and J. M. Trela. 1976. Deoxyribonucleic acid polymerase from the extreme thermophile Thermus aquaticus. Journal of Bacteriology. 127(3): 1550-1557.

Daly, M. J. 2000. Engineering radiation-resistant bacteria for environmental biotechnology. Curr. Opin. Biotechnol.11:280-285.

Ferreira, A. C., M. F. Nobre, F. A. Rainey, M. T. Silva, R. Wait, J. Burghardt, A. P. Chung, and M. S. da Costa. 1997. Deinococcus geothermalis sp. nov. and Deinococcus murrayi sp. nov., two extremely radiation-resistant and slightly thermophilic species from hot springs. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 47: 939-947.
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.

Huyghe, P. 1998. Conan the bacterium. The Sciences. July/August: 16-19.

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.

Makarova, K. S., L., Aravind, Y. L. Wolf, R. L. Tatusov, K.W. Minton, E.V. Koonin, and M. J. Daly. 2001. Genome of the extremely radiation-resistant bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans viewed from the perspective of comparative genomics. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 65:44-79.

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.

Mattimore, V. and J. R. Battista. 1996. Radioresistance of Deinococcus radiodurans: Functions necessary to survive ionizing radiation are also necessary to survive prolonged dessication. Journal of Bacteriology. 178(3): 633-637.

Omelchenko, M. V., Y. I. Wolf, E. K. Gaidamakova, V. Y. Matrosova, A. Vasilenko, M. Zhai, M. J. Daly, E. V. Koonin, and K. S. Marakova.2005. Comparative genomics of Thermus thermophilus and Deinococcus radiodurans: divergent routes of adaptation to thermophily and radiation resistance. BMC Evolutionary Biology. 5:57 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/5/57

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.
By Jack R. Holt. Last revised: 02/11/2013
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