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Abstract

The organisms belonging to the Prochlorophyta (Lewin 1976) are oxygenic phototrophic prokaryotes which contain chlorophylls a and b. Until recently (Lewin 1975) this combination of pigments was thought to be restricted to eukaryotic cells only. Due to this combination of eukaryotic and prokaryotic features their taxonomic position has been subject to discussion for several years. In 1986 Florenzano et al. proposed a new order, the Prochlorales, in the class Photobacteria (Gibbons and Murray 1978) to accommodate organisms with the aforesaid properties. This prompted Burger-Wiersma et al. (1989) to refer to them as oxychlorobacteria instead of prochlorophytes.

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Burger-Wiersma, T., Matthijs, H.C.P. (1990). The Biology of the Prochlorales. In: Codd, G.A., Dijkhuizen, L., Tabita, F.R. (eds) Autotrophic Microbiology and One-Carbon Metabolism. Advances in Autotrophic Microbiology and One-Carbon Metabolism, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1978-5_1

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