Nitrospirae
General information
Name
Nitrospirae
Effective publication
2001
Lineage
Root.
Bacteria.
Nitrospirae
Etymology
M.L. fem. n. <i>Nitrospira</i>, genus of the phylum; ending to denote a phylum; M.L. fem. pl. n. <i>Nitrospirae</i>, the phylum of <i>Nitrospira</i>.
Description and emendation
Original Description
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The phylum Nitrospirae is based mainly on phylogenetic grounds. At present, it consists of a single class, order, and family of Bacteria and environtaxa that branch deeply in the major reference trees; member taxa consistently group together. Gram-negative, curved, vibrioid or spiral-shaped cells. Metabolically diverse, most genera are aerobic chemolithotrophs including nitrifiers, dissimilatory sulfate reducers, and magnetotactic forms. One genus (Thermodesulfovibrio) is thermophilic, and obligately acidophilic and anaerobic.
Subdivision(s)
References
1
Garrity, G.M., and Holt, J.G. Phylum BVIII. Nitrospirae phy. nov. In: Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology, 2nd ed., vol. 1 (The Archaea and the deeply branching and phototrophic Bacteria) (D.R. Boone and R.W. Castenholz, eds.), Springer-Verlag,New York (2001). p. 451.