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Gliding microbes: some taxonomic reconsiderations

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Abstract

Certain microbes capable of bending and gliding on solid substrata, but neither forming flagella nor endospores, show affinities with blue-green algae despite their lack of photosynthetic pigments. Unicellular and multicellular types occur, in a wide range of habitats. There are free-living marine and freshwater species, and some symbiotic or parasitic forms, including a few anaerobes. Their classification is at present disorganized.

An attempt is made here to review the relevant literature and to propose a consistent taxonomic treatment. The sub-class Flexibacteria is considered to comprise two orders, Myxobacterales and Flexibacterales. The latter embraces the families Beggiatoaceae with two genera, Cytophagaceae (or Flexibacteraceae?) with six genera, Simonsiellaceae with two genera, Leucotrichaceae with two genera, and a small additional family as yet formally undescribed. (The numbers of recognized genera indicated are conservative ones.)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Facultad de Agronomía y Veterinaria, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    S. Soriano & R. A. Lewin

  2. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, La Jolla, California, USA

    S. Soriano & R. A. Lewin

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  1. S. Soriano
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  2. R. A. Lewin
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Soriano, S., Lewin, R.A. Gliding microbes: some taxonomic reconsiderations. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 31, 66–80 (1965). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02045876

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