Proteobacteria

Karel Kersters, University of Gent, Gent, Belgium
Paul De Vos, University of Gent, Gent, Belgium
Monique Gillis, University of Gent, Gent, Belgium
Jean Swings, University of Gent, Gent, Belgium

Published online: April 2006

DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0004312

The Proteobacteria constitute one of the major lineages (phyla) within the domain of the Bacteria. Although these Gram-negative bacteria are phylogenetically related, they are physiologically, morphologically and ecologically extremely diverse. They are of great biological importance because they include various pathogens of humans, animals and plants, as well as a number of taxa that play key roles in the carbon, sulfur and nitrogen cycles on our planet.

Keywords: bacteria; Gram-negative bacteria; Proteobacteria; purple bacteria; origin of mitochondria

Figure 1. Neighbour-joining phylogenetic tree of 16S rDNA sequences of some 120 selected Proteobacteria (mostly type strains of type species). Distances were calculated using the substitution rate calibration method in TREECON 1.3 (Van de Peer and De Wachter, 1997). Bacillus subtilis was used as outgroup (not shown). The bar indicates 10% estimated sequence divergence. Inclusion of genera in validly published families follows Garrity and Holt (2001).
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Related Sub-Topics:

Bacteria | Microbial Evolution and Taxonomy
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Article Title: Proteobacteria
 
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Kersters, Karel, De Vos, Paul, Gillis, Monique, and Swings, Jean(Apr 2006) Proteobacteria. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0004312]