Kryptonia is a
bacterial phylum with
candidate
A candidate, or nominee, is a prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position. For example, one can be a candidate for membership in a group (sociology), group or election to an offic ...
status. It is a member of the
FCB group.
The phylum was first proposed in 2016 following the recovery of genomes from a large-scale effort to mine
metagenomic and
single-cell genomic datasets for novel bacterial diversity.
Extensive analysis of 5.2 Tb of metagenomic data from around the world suggests members of Kryptonia are found exclusively in high-temperature pH-neutral geothermal springs, such as the Jinze pool (Yunnan Province, China), Dewar Creek Spring (British Columbia, Canada), and Great Boiling Spring (Nevada, USA).
Due to primer mismatches, members of this phylum have been widely under-detected in
16S rRNA
16S ribosomal RNA (or 16Svedberg, S rRNA) is the RNA component of the 30S subunit of a prokaryotic ribosome (SSU rRNA). It binds to the Shine-Dalgarno sequence and provides most of the SSU structure.
The genes coding for it are referred to as ...
sequencing-based surveys of community composition.
Analysis of the first genomes recovered from this group (from four different genera) suggests that members of Kryptonia are
heterotroph
A heterotroph (; ) is an organism that cannot produce its own food, instead taking nutrition from other sources of organic carbon, mainly plant or animal matter. In the food chain, heterotrophs are primary, secondary and tertiary consumers, but ...
s with a putative capacity for iron respiration.
They are inferred to be incapable of some producing key metabolic compounds on their own (e.g.:
biotin
Biotin (also known as vitamin B7 or vitamin H) is one of the B vitamins. It is involved in a wide range of metabolic processes, both in humans and in other organisms, primarily related to the utilization of fats, carbohydrates, and amino acids. ...
(also known as vitamin B7 or vitamin H) and certain
amino acid
Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although over 500 amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the 22 α-amino acids incorporated into proteins. Only these 22 a ...
s), and thus may be metabolically dependent on other microbes in their environment, although the nature of such a relationship is unknown.
The name "Kryptonia" is derived from the Greek work ''"krupton"'', which means "hidden" or "secret". This is a nod to the phylum having hitherto eluded detection due to SSU
rRNA primer biases.
Taxonomy
The currently accepted taxonomy is based on the
List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature
List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature (LPSN) is an online database that maintains information on the naming and taxonomy of prokaryotes, following the taxonomy requirements and rulings of the International Code of Nomenclatu ...
(LPSN)
and
National Center for Biotechnology Information
The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) is part of the National Library of Medicine (NLM), a branch of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It is approved and funded by the government of the United States. The NCBI is lo ...
(NCBI).
* Class "Kryptonia"
** Order "Kryptoniales"
*** Family "Kryptoniaceae"
**** Genus "''Ca.''
Chrysopegocella"
Eloe-Fadrosh et al. 2016 corrig. Oren et al. 2020 ''Ca.'' Chrysopegis" (sic)***** "''Ca.'' C. kryptomonas"
Eloe-Fadrosh et al. 2016 corrig. Oren et al. 2020
**** Genus "''Ca.''
Kryptobacter"
Eloe-Fadrosh et al. 2016
***** "''Ca.'' K. tengchongensis"
Eloe-Fadrosh et al. 2016
**** Genus "''Ca.''
Kryptonium"
Eloe-Fadrosh et al. 2016
***** "''Ca.'' K. mobile"
Hedlund et al. 2022
***** "''Ca.'' K. thompsonii"
corrig. Eloe-Fadrosh et al. 2016
**** Genus "''Ca.''
Thermokryptus"
Eloe-Fadrosh et al. 2016
***** "''Ca.'' T. mobilis"
Eloe-Fadrosh et al. 2016
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
{{Taxonbar, from=Q27101797
Bacteria phyla
Bacteria by classification
Genomics