Actinobacteria

Actinobacteria
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Bacteria Phylum: Actinobacteria Lynn Margulis Class: Actinobacteria
Subclasses
Acidimicrobidae Actinobacteridae Coriobacteridae Rubrobacteridae Sphaerobacteridae

WikiDoc Resources for Actinobacteria
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Evidence Based Medicine
Cochrane Collaboration on Actinobacteria Bandolier on Actinobacteria TRIP on Actinobacteria
Clinical Trials
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US National Guidelines Clearinghouse on Actinobacteria NICE Guidance on Actinobacteria NHS PRODIGY Guidance FDA on Actinobacteria CDC on Actinobacteria
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Definitions
Definitions of Actinobacteria
Patient Resources / Community
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Symptoms of Actinobacteria Causes & Risk Factors for Actinobacteria Diagnostic studies for Actinobacteria Treatment of Actinobacteria
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Experimental / Informatics
List of terms related to Actinobacteria

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

The Actinobacteria or Actinomycetes are a group of Gram-positive bacteria with high G+C ratio. They include some of the most common soil life, playing an important role in decomposition of organic materials, such as cellulose and chitin and thereby play a vital part in organic matter turnover and carbon cycle. Thus replenishing the supply of nutrients in the soil and is an important part of humus formation.

Actinobacteria are well known as secondary metabolite producers and hence of high pharmacological and commercial interest. In 1940 Selman Waksman discovered that the soil bacteria he was studying made actinomycin, a discovery which granted him a Nobel Prize. Since then hundreds of naturally occurring antibiotics have been discovered in these terrestrial microorganisms, especially from the genus Streptomyces.

Other Actinobacteria inhabit plants and animals, including a few pathogens, such as Mycobacterium, Corynebacterium, Nocardia, Rhodococcus and a few species of Streptomyces.

Genomes of 44 different strains of Actinobacteria from different genera are either already sequenced or underway right now.

Some Actinobacteria form branching filaments, which somewhat resemble the mycelia of the unrelated fungi, among which they were originally classified under the older name Actinomycetes. Most members are aerobic, but a few, such as Actinomyces israelii, can grow under anaerobic conditions. Unlike the Firmicutes, the other main group of Gram-positive bacteria, they have DNA with a high GC-content and some Actinomycetes species produce external spores.

Representative genera include:

• Actinomyces
• Arthrobacter
• Corynebacterium
• Frankia
• Micrococcus
• Micromonospora
• Mycobacterium
• Nocardia
• Propionibacterium
• Streptomyces

References

• Stackebrandt E, Rainey FA, and Ward-Rainey NL (1997). Proposal for a new hierarchic classification system, Domingus classis nov. Int J Syst Bacteriol 47:479-491. Abstract

External links

• Effects of transgenic T4 lysozyme potato plants on micro-organisms in the soil – focusing on bacteria and fungi in the rhizosphere

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