Bacillaceae, from
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
"bacillus", meaning "little staff, wand", are a
family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
of
gram-positive
In bacteriology, gram-positive bacteria are bacteria that give a positive result in the Gram stain test, which is traditionally used to quickly classify bacteria into two broad categories according to their type of cell wall.
The Gram stain is ...
,
heterotrophic, rod-shaped
bacteria
Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of Prokaryote, prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micr ...
that may produce
endospores. Motile members of this family are characterized by peritrichous flagella. Some Bacillaceae are
aerobic, while others are
facultative or strict
anaerobes. Most are not
pathogenic, but ''
Bacillus
''Bacillus'', from Latin "bacillus", meaning "little staff, wand", is a genus of Gram-positive, rod-shaped bacteria, a member of the phylum ''Bacillota'', with 266 named species. The term is also used to describe the shape (rod) of other so-sh ...
'' species are known to cause disease in humans.
Gram-variable cell wall
Some Bacillaceae, such as the genera ''
Filobacillus,
Lentibacillus,'' and ''
Halobacillus'', stain Gram-negative or Gram-variable, but are known to have a Gram-positive cell wall.
[Lim, J.M., Jeon, C.O., Song, S.M., and C.J. Kim. 2005]
''Pontibacillus chungwhensis gen. nov., sp. nov., a moderately halophilic Gram-positive bacterium from a solar saltern in Korea''
Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 55:165-170.
Nomenclature
Taxa within this family are sometimes colloquially identified as "bacilli". However, this term is ambiguous because it does not distinguish between class
Bacilli
Bacilli is a Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic Class (biology), class of bacteria that includes two orders, Bacillales and Lactobacillales, which contain several well-known pathogens such as ''Bacillus anthracis'' (the cause of anthrax). ''Bacilli'' ...
, order
Bacillales
Bacillales, from Latin "bacillus", meaning "little staff, wand", are an order (biology), order of Gram-positive bacteria, placed within the Bacillota. The ''Bacillales'' are the most productive order of the phylum ''Firmicutes''. Representative ...
, family Bacillaceae, and genus ''
Bacillus
''Bacillus'', from Latin "bacillus", meaning "little staff, wand", is a genus of Gram-positive, rod-shaped bacteria, a member of the phylum ''Bacillota'', with 266 named species. The term is also used to describe the shape (rod) of other so-sh ...
''.
Genera
The
polyphyletic
A polyphyletic group is an assemblage that includes organisms with mixed evolutionary origin but does not include their most recent common ancestor. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as Homoplasy, homoplasies ...
family Bacillaceae comprises the following:
See also
*
List of bacteria genera
This article lists the genera of the bacteria
Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of Prokaryote, ...
*
List of bacterial orders
This article lists the orders of the Bacteria. The currently accepted taxonomy is based on the List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature (LPSN) and National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)
and the phylogeny is based on 16 ...
References
Bacillales
Long stubs with short prose
{{Bacilli-stub