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The Family Desulfobacteraceae

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Book cover The Prokaryotes

Abstract

Desulfobacteraceae, a family within the order Desulfobacterales, embraces 21 genera Desulfobacter, Desulfatibacillum, Desulfatiferula, Desulfatirhabdium, Desulfatitalea, Desulfobacterium, Desulfobacula, Desulfobotulus, Desulfocella, Desulfococcus, Desulfoconvexum, Desulfofaba, Desulfofrigus, Desulfoluna, Desulfonatronobacter, Desulfonema, Desulforegula, Desulfosalsimonas, Desulfosarcina, Desulfospira, and Desulfotignum. The family is primarily defined by their 16S rRNA gene sequence phylogeny. Morphological and chemotaxonomic properties are highly variable for the delineation of genera and species. Strictly anaerobic, having a respiratory type of metabolism. Fermentative metabolism might occur. Members are either mesophilic or psychrophilic sulfate-reducing bacteria. Members of the family are mainly found in freshwater, brackish water, marine, and haloalkaline habitats. Most described species are chemoorganoheterotroph; some are chemolithoheterotroph or chemolithoautotroph. Most members oxidize organic substrates completely to carbon dioxide, whereas some perform an incomplete oxidation of organic substrates to acetate.

This contribution is a modified and an updated version of a previous family description (Kuever et al. 2005a).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, Bremen Institute for Materials Testing, Paul-Feller-Str. 1, 28199, Bremen, Germany

    Jan Kuever

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  1. Jan Kuever
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Correspondence to Jan Kuever .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Eugene Rosenberg

  2. Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Edward F. DeLong

  3. Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education, University of Hawaii, Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA

    Edward F. DeLong

  4. Department of Microbiology and Immunobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Stephen Lory

  5. Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Braunschweig, Germany

    Erko Stackebrandt

  6. Laboratory of Microbiology, Institute of Biology, Center for Health Sciences, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Ilha do Fundão, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Fabiano Thompson

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Kuever, J. (2014). The Family Desulfobacteraceae. In: Rosenberg, E., DeLong, E.F., Lory, S., Stackebrandt, E., Thompson, F. (eds) The Prokaryotes. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39044-9_266

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