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The Phototrophic Alpha-Proteobacteria

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The Prokaryotes

Introduction

The phototrophic purple α-Proteobacteria are purple nonsulfur bacteria able to perform anoxygenic photosynthesis. Owing to the presence of photosynthetic pigments, cell suspensions appear in various colors from beige, olive-green, peach-brown, brown, brown-red, red or pink and have characteristic absorption spectra. Photosynthetic pigments (bacteriochlorophyll a or b [esterified with phytol or geranylgeraniol] and various types of carotenoids) are located in the cytoplasmic membrane and internal membrane systems (vesicles, lamellae or membrane stacks).

Typically, phototrophic α-Proteobacteria grow under anoxic conditions in the light and their phototrophic growth, photosynthetic pigment synthesis and internal membrane formation are inhibited by oxygen but become derepressed at low oxygen tensions. Their metabolism is highly diverse and flexible. The preferred mode of growth is photoorganoheterotrophically, but many species also can grow photolithoautotrophically with...

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Authors
  1. Johannes F. Imhoff
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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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Imhoff, J.F. (2006). The Phototrophic Alpha-Proteobacteria. In: Dworkin, M., Falkow, S., Rosenberg, E., Schleifer, KH., Stackebrandt, E. (eds) The Prokaryotes. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-30745-1_2

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