SYNOPTIC DESCRIPTION OF THE PHYLUM ENDOSPOROBACTERIA (MARGULIS AND SCHWARTZ 1998)
| EUBACTERIA> FIRMICUTAE> ENDOSPOROBACTERIA |
PHYLUM ENDOSPOROBACTERIA LINKS
| The following description comes mainly from Margulis and Schwartz (1998), Barnes (1984b), Brock et al. (1994), and Tudge (2000). |
- I. SYNONYMS: Aerendospora, Areobic endospore-forming bacteria, Micrococci, Gram-positive cocci.
- II. PHYLUM CHARACTERISTICS:
- A. Structure
- Cell Form: Rods (text with tooltip) A rod is an elongate cell form such that it has distinct ends (called poles). , cocci (text with tooltip) A coccus (cocci, pl.) is a spherical cell form. (occurring singly or in clusters, often in clusters of 4 cells); some in colonies.
- 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: Motile (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. by means of peritrichous flagella (text with tooltip) Peritrichous flagella are inserted on the sides but not on the end of a rod or spiral cell. , or nonmotile.
- B. Physiology
- O2 Tolerance: Obligate or facultative aerobes.
- Substrates: Quite variable. Oxidative metabolism utilizing simple organic compounds; some ferment simple sugars and more complex polysaccharides (e.g. starch, pectin, cellulose and other plant polysaccharides).
- Products: Aerobic metabolic pathways well developed; therefore, CO2 is a primary product; many produce antibiotics. Some produce toxins.
- C. Other: They produce a highly resistant endospore (text with tooltip) Endospores are produced within the bounds of the parent cell. which is quite complex. Some are catalyse positive.
- D. Ecology: Parasitic or free-living in soil and aquatic systems, some are symbionts in or on animals like termites.
- A. Structure
| LITERATURE CITED 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. Blot, S. I., K. H. Vandewoude, E. A. Hoste, and F. A. Colardyn. 2002. Outcome and attributable mortality in critically ill patients with bacteremia involving methicillin-susceptible and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Arch. Intern. Med. 162: 2229-2235. Brock, T. D., M. T. Madigan, J. M. Martinko, and J. Parker. 1994. Biology of Microorganisms. 7th ed. Prentice Hall. Englewood Cliffs, NJ. 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. Guillemin, J. 2001. Anthrax University of California Press, Berkely. 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. Neeley, A. N. and M. P. Maley. 2000. Survival of Enterococci and Staphylococci on hostipal fabrics and plastic. Journal of Clinical Microbiology. 38(2): 724-726. Ryan, K. J. and C. G. Ray, eds. 2004. Sherris Medical Microbiology. 4th edition. McGraw Hill. New York. Sneath, P. H. A. 1986. Endosporeforming Gram-positive rods and cocci. In: Sneath, P. H. A., Mair, N. S., Sharpe, M. E. and Holt, J. G., eds. Bergey´s Manual of Systematic Bacteriology. 2: 1104-1207. 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. Vallery-Radot, V. 1928. The Life of Pasteur. Garden City Publishing Co., Garden City, NY. |
| By Jack R. Holt. Last revised: 02/11/2013 |
