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The Family Heliobacteriaceae

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The Prokaryotes

Introduction

The family Heliobacteriaceae consists of phototrophic bacteria that contain bacteriochlorophyll (Bchl) g (Fig. 1). This unique Bchl, found only in the heliobacteria, distinguishes them from all other anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria (Madigan, 2001; Madigan and Ormerod, 1995b). The heliobacteria were discovered in a very serendipitous fashion by Howard Gest and Jeff Favinger in the early 1980s; a fascinating account of this discovery can be found in Gest (1994). The unique characteristics of heliobacteria were first revealed a few years later with publication of the description of Heliobacterium chlorum (Gest and Favinger, 1983) and the structure of Bchl g (Brockmann and Lipinski, 1983). Subsequent research in the Gest laboratory led to the discovery of Heliobacillus, and with this, the establishment of the family Heliobacteriaceae (Beer-Romero and Gest, 1987). Four genera of heliobacteria are currently recognized: Heliobacterium, Heliobacillus, Heliophilum and Heliorestis...

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Authors
  1. Michael T. Madigan
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, University of Minnesota, Box 196, Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN 55455-0312, USA

    Martin Dworkin Professor Dr. (Editor-in-Chief) (Editor-in-Chief)

  2. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University Medical School, 299 Campus Drive, Fairchild, D039, Stanford, CA, 94305-5124, USA

    Stanley Falkow

  3. Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, Tel Aviv University, Ramat-Aviv, 69978, Israel

    Eugene Rosenberg

  4. Department of Microbiology, Technical University Munich, 80290, Munich, Germany

    Karl-Heinz Schleifer

  5. DSMZ- German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GmbH, Mascheroder Weg 1b, 38124, Braunschweig, Germany

    Erko Stackebrandt

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© 2006 Springer-Verlag

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Madigan, M.T. (2006). The Family Heliobacteriaceae. In: Dworkin, M., Falkow, S., Rosenberg, E., Schleifer, KH., Stackebrandt, E. (eds) The Prokaryotes. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-30744-3_31

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