Abstract
In order to determine the phylogenetic relationships of representatives of three Gram-negative genera, Sporomusa, Selenomonas, and Megasphaera, the 16S ribosomal RNAs were compared by oligonucleotide cataloguing. Surprisingly, Sporomusa ovata, S. sphaeroides, Selenomonas ruminantium, and Megasphaera elsdenii do not group with any of the 200 Gram-negative eubacterial species investigated so far by this method but show a distinct although remote relationship to Gram-positive eubacteria of the “Clostridium subdivision”. The presence of Gram-negative species within the radiation of the cluster defined by Gram-positive cubacteria reduces the significance the Gram-positive staining behaviour plays in taxonomic and phylogenetic studies. It furthermore supports previous findings showing the Gram-negative and phototrophic species Heliobacterium chlorum to be a member of the Clostridium-Bacillus cluster. The presence of Gram-negative endospore-containing Sporomusa species among the 16S rRNA cluster of Gram-positive endospore-forming eubacteria allow speculations about the evolutionary origin of Gram-positive eubacteria.
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This paper is dedicated to Professor Dr. O. Kandler, on the occasion of his 65th birthday
Es was supported by the Gesellschaft für Biotechnologische Forschung (GBF) for performing research of relevance for the German Collection of Microorganisms (DSM). CRW was supported by a grant, DEB-8107061, from the National Science Foundation
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Stackebrandt, E., Pohla, H., Kroppenstedt, R. et al. 16S rRNA analysis of Sporomusa, selenomonas, and Megasphaera: on the phylogenetic origin of Gram-positive Eubacteria. Arch. Microbiol. 143, 270–276 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00411249
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00411249