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Category: Bacterial Pathogenesis
Genome Diversity of Spore-Forming Firmicutes, Page 1 of 2
< Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/10.1128/9781555819323/9781555816759_Chap01-1.gif /docserver/preview/fulltext/10.1128/9781555819323/9781555816759_Chap01-2.gifAbstract:
The taxonomy of spore-forming Gram-positive bacteria has a long and colorful history. In 1872, 35 years after Christian Ehrenberg provided the initial description of Vibrio subtilis (and also Vibrio bacillus), Ferdinand Cohn assigned it to the genus Bacillus and family Bacillaceae, specifically noting the existence of heat-sensitive vegetative cells and heat-resistant endospores (see reference 1 ). Soon after that, Robert Koch identified Bacillus anthracis as the causative agent of anthrax in cattle and the endospores as a means of the propagation of this organism among its hosts. In subsequent studies, the ability to form endospores, the specific purple staining by crystal violet-iodine (Gram-positive staining, reflecting the presence of a thick peptidoglycan layer and the absence of an outer membrane), and the relatively low (typically less than 50%) molar fraction of guanine and cytosine in the genomic DNA have been used as diagnostic characteristics of the phylum Firmicutes (low-G+C Gram-positive bacteria).
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Principal data sources on bacterial (Firmicutes) taxonomy
Principal data sources on bacterial (Firmicutes) taxonomy
Distribution of spore-forming bacteria among Firmicutes
Distribution of spore-forming bacteria among Firmicutes
Recent renaming of some well-known sporeformers
Recent renaming of some well-known sporeformers
Genome sequencing of extremophilic sporeformers
Genome sequencing of extremophilic sporeformers
Distribution of sporulation genes in some non-spore-forming bacteria a
Distribution of sporulation genes in some non-spore-forming bacteria a