Summary
DNAs from 16 species of archaebacteria including 6 novel isolates were hybridized with 16S rRNAs from 7 species representing different orders or groups of the urkingdom of archaebacteria.
The yields, normalized for the number of genes perµg of DNA, and the temperature stabilities of all hybrids were determined and related to each other.
A taxonomic tree constructed from such fractional stability data reveals the same major divisions as that derived from comparative cataloging of 16S rRNA sequences. The extreme halophiles appear however as a distinct order besides the three known divisions of methanogens.
The methanogens, the halophiles andThermoplasma form one of two clearly recognizable branches of the archaebacterial urkingdom. The order represented bySulfolobus and the related novel orderThermoproteales form the other branch.
Three novel genera,Thermoproteus, Desulfurococcus and the “stiff filaments” represent three families of this order.
The extremely thermophilic methanogenMethanothermus fervidus belongs to theMethanobacteriales. SN1, a methanogen from Italy, appears as another species of the genusMethanococcus. Another novel methanogen, M3, represents a genus or family of the orderMethanomicrobiales.
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Tu, J., Prangishvilli, D., Huber, H. et al. Taxonomic relations between archaebacteria including 6 novel genera examined by cross hybridization of DNAs and 16S rRNAs. J Mol Evol 18, 109–114 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01810829
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01810829