''Alteromonas'' is a genus of

Pseudomonadota Pseudomonadota (synonym "Proteobacteria") is a major phylum of gram-negative bacteria. Currently, they are considered the predominant phylum within the domain of bacteria. They are naturally found as pathogenic and free-living (non- parasitic) ...

found in sea water, either in the open ocean or in the

coast A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...

. It is

Gram-negative Gram-negative bacteria are bacteria that, unlike gram-positive bacteria, do not retain the crystal violet stain used in the Gram staining method of bacterial differentiation. Their defining characteristic is that their cell envelope consists ...

. Its cells are curved rods with a single polar

flagellum A flagellum (; : flagella) (Latin for 'whip' or 'scourge') is a hair-like appendage that protrudes from certain plant and animal sperm cells, from fungal spores ( zoospores), and from a wide range of microorganisms to provide motility. Many pr ...

Etymology

The etymology of the genus is Latin ''alter'' -''tera'' -''terum'', another, different; ''monas'' (μονάς), a noun with a special meaning in microbiology used to mean unicellular organism; to give ''Alteromonas'', another monad Members of the genus ''Alteromonas'' can be referred to as alteromonads (''viz.'' Trivialisation of names).

Authority

The genus was described by Baumann ''et al.'' in 1972, but was emended by Novick and Tyler 1985 to accommodate ''Alteromonas luteoviolacea'' (now ''

Pseudoalteromonas luteoviolacea ''Pseudoalteromonas luteoviolacea'' is a marine bacterium which was isolated from seawater near Nice. History ''Pseudoalteromonas luteoviolacea'' was originally isolated in 1976 and named ''Alteromonas luteo-violaceus''. However, this name was a ...

''), Gauthier et al. 1995, who split the genus in two (''

Pseudoalteromonas ''Pseudoalteromonas'' is a genus of marine bacteria. In 1995, Gauthier ''et al'' proposed ''Pseudoalteromonas'' as a new genus to be split from ''Alteromonas''. The ''Pseudoalteromonas'' species that were described before 1995 were originally par ...

'') and Van Trappen et al. in 2004 to accommodate ''Alteromonas stellipolaris''.

Shipworm symbiont

"Alteromonas-like sub-group" has been identified by microbial culture, metagenomics, and FISH-probe microscopy in the

typhlosole In Morphology (biology), biological morphology, a typhlosole is an internal fold of the Gut (anatomy), intestine or intestine inner wall. Typhlosoles occur in bivalve mollusks, lampreys and some annelids and echinoderms. In earthworms, it is a d ...

sub-organ of the

shipworm The shipworms, also called teredo worms or simply teredo (, via Latin ), are marine bivalve molluscs in the family Teredinidae, a group of saltwater clams with long, soft, naked bodies. They are notorious for boring into (and commonly eventual ...

cecum as a

symbiont Symbiosis (Ancient Greek : living with, companionship < : together; and ''bíōsis'': living) is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction, between two organisms of different species. The two organisms, termed symbionts, can fo ...

digesting

lignin Lignin is a class of complex organic polymers that form key structural materials in the support tissues of most plants. Lignins are particularly important in the formation of cell walls, especially in wood and bark, because they lend rigidit ...

Species

The genus contains eight species (but 21 basonyms), namely * '' A. addita'' (Ivanova ''et al''. 2005, added, joined to the genus) * '' A. genovensis'' ( Vandecandelaere ''et al''. 2008, ''genovensis'', pertaining to Genova (Genoa), Italy, where the seawater electroactive

biofilm A biofilm is a Syntrophy, syntrophic Microbial consortium, community of microorganisms in which cell (biology), cells cell adhesion, stick to each other and often also to a surface. These adherent cells become embedded within a slimy ext ...

s originated) * '' A. hispanica'' ( Martínez-Checa ''et 'al''. 2005, ''hispanica'', Spanish) * '' A. litorea'' ( Yoon ''et al.''. 2004, ''litorea'', of the shore) * '' A. macleodii'' ( Baumann ''et al.'' 1972 (type species of the genus, named after R.A. MacLeod, a Canadian microbiologist who pioneered studies on the biochemical bases of the Na⁺ requirement of marine bacteria) * '' A. marina'' ( Yoon ''et al.''. 2003, ''marina'', of the sea, marine) * '' A. simiduii'' ( Chiu ''et al.''. 2007, named after Usio Simidu, a Japanese microbiologist, for his work on marine microbiology) * '' A. stellipolaris'' ( Van Trappen ''et al.''. 2004, ''stella'', star; ''polaris'', polar, referring to the ''Polarstern'' (AWI, Bremerhaven), the name of the vessel that was used to collect the sample from which the organisms were isolated) * '' A. tagae'' ( Chiu ''et al.''. 2007, named after Nobuo Taga, a pioneering Japanese marine microbiologist)

Former alteromonads

Many alteromonads were reclassified as members of ''

'' in 1995 * '' P. atlantica'' (Akagawa-Matsushita ''et al.''. 1992, ''atlantica'', pertaining to the Atlantic Ocean) * '' P. aurantia'' (Gauthier and Breittmayer 1979, ''aurantia'', orange-colored) * '' P. carrageenovora'' (Akagawa-Matsushita ''et al.''. 1992, ''carrageenum'', named for carrageenan; ''vorare'', to devour - carrageenan decomposing) * '' P. citrea'' (Gauthier 1977, ''citrea'', of or pertaining to the citrus-tree, intended to mean lemon-yellow) * '' P. denitrificans'' (Enger ''et al.''. 1987, ''denitrificans'', denitrifying) * '' P. distincta'' (Romanenko ''et al.'' 1995, ''distincta'', separate, distinct) * '' P. elyakovii'' (Ivanova ''et al.''. 1997, named after G.B. Elyakov for his work in microbial biotechnology) * '' P. espejiana'' (Chan ''et al.''. 1978, named after Espejo, a Chilean microbiologist who isolated one of the first lipid-containing bacteriophages) * '' P. fuliginea'' (Romanenko ''et al.''. 1995, ''fuliginea'', like soot, sooty) * '' P. haloplanktis'' ((ZoBell and Upham 1944) Reichelt and Baumann 1973, ''hals'' ''halos'', sea; -''ê'' -''on'', wandering, roaming, sea-wandering) *'' P. luteoviolacea'' ((''ex'' Gauthier 1976) Gauthier 1982, ''luteus'', yellow; ''violaceus'' - violet-colored; ''luteoviolacea'', yellow-violet) * '' P. nigrifaciens'' ((''ex'' White 1940) Baumann ''et'' ''al''. 1984, ''Niger'', black; ''facio'', to make to give ''nigrifaciens'', making black) * '' P. rubra'' (Gauthier 1976, ''rubra'', red) * '' P. tetraodonis'' (Simidu ''et al.''. 1990, ''tetraodonis'', of ''Tetraodon'', a genus of plectognathic fishes etraodontidae * '' P. undina'' (Chan ''et al.''. 1978, ''undina'', undine, water nymph) Other former alteromonads: * '' Marinomonas communis'' (Baumann ''et al.''. 1972, ''communis'', common) * '' Marinomonas vaga'' (Baumann ''et al.''. 1972, ''vaga'', wandering) * '' Shewanella colwelliana'' (Weiner ''et al.''. 1988, named after Rita Colwell for her contributions to marine microbiology) * ''

Shewanella hanedai ''Shewanella'' is the sole genus included in the marine bacteria family Shewanellaceae. Some species within it were formerly classed as ''Alteromonas''. ''Shewanella'' consists of facultatively anaerobic Gram-negative rods, most of which are foun ...

'' (Jensen ''et al.''. 1981, named after Y. Haneda, a Japanese biologist who pioneered studies on bioluminescence) * ''

Shewanella putrefaciens ''Shewanella putrefaciens'' is a Gram-negative pleomorphic bacterium. It has been isolated from marine environments, as well as from anaerobic sandstone in the Morrison Formation in New Mexico. ''S. putrefaciens'' is also a facultative anaerobe ...

'' ((''ex'' Derby and Hammer 1931) Lee ''et al.''. 1981, ''putrefaciens'', making rotten, putrefying)

References

External links

Cancerweb's entry
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3762368 Alteromonadales Bacteria genera Bioluminescent bacteria