Abstract
Abstract
Ki.ri.ti.ma.ti.el.la'les. N.L. fem. dim. n.
Kiritimatiella
, type genus of the order; L. fem. pl. n. suff. –
ales,
ending to denote an order; N.L. fem. pl. n.
Kiritimatiellales
, the
Kiritimatiella
order.
Kiritimatiellota / Kiritimatiellia / Kiritimatiellales
The order
Kiritimatiellales
as defined in the chapter on the class
Kiritimatiellia
encompasses all cultivated members of the phylum
Kiritimatiellota
, which are represented by the species
Kiritimatiella glycovorans
,
Pontiella desulfatans
,
P. sulfatireligans
, and
Tichowtungia aerotolerans
. Microorganisms assigned to this order are generally free‐living, nonmotile, non‐spore‐forming, coccoid bacteria adapted to anoxic aquatic niches often characterized by marine or hypersaline salinity. Further features common to all strains include cell division by binary fission, a cell wall of the Gram‐negative type that contains peptidoglycan, absence of intracellular membranes, and an anaerobic metabolism based on the fermentation of carbohydrates. Transparent exopolymers are produced by pure cultures of the known strains. A specialization in the degradation of complex polysaccharides can be assumed for most strains, since the corresponding genomes contain a large number of genes encoding glycoside hydrolases and sulfatases. Cellular fatty acid patterns of axenic cultures are dominated by straight‐chain (C
18:0
) and iso‐branched fatty acids (iso‐C
14:0
, iso‐C
18:0
). The major polar lipids were identified as phosphatidylglycerol and diphosphatidylglycerol (cardiolipin). The genome sizes among described representatives of this order range from 2.9 to 8.7 Mb.
DNA G + C content (mol%)
: 53–63 (genome analyses,
n
= 4).
Type genus
:
Kiritimatiella
Spring et al. 2016, VL174.