Bacillus megaterium

Bacillus megaterium
Bacillus megaterium cells stained with Sudan Black B and safranin.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Bacteria
Phylum: Bacillota
Class: Bacilli
Order: Bacillales
Family: Bacillaceae
Genus: Bacillus
Species:
B. megaterium
Binomial name
Bacillus megaterium
de Bary 1884

Bacillus megaterium is a rod-like, Gram-positive, mainly aerobic, spore forming bacterium found in widely diverse habitats.[1][2] It has a cell length up to 100 μm and a diameter of 0.1 μm, which is quite large for bacteria.[3] The cells often occur in pairs and chains,[1] where the cells are joined by polysaccharides on the cell walls.[citation needed]

In the 1980s, prior to the use of Bacillus subtilis for this purpose, B. megaterium was the main model organism among Gram-positive bacteria for intensive studies on biochemistry, sporulation, and bacteriophages. Recently, its popularity has started increasing in the field of biotechnology for its recombinant protein-production capacity.[3]

This species was transferred into the genus Priestia.[4] The correct nomenclature is now Priestia megaterium[5].

  1. ^ a b De Vos, P. et al. Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology: Volume 3: The Firmicutes. Springer (2009)
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference vary was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Bunk, B. et al. A short story about a big magic bug. Bioengineered Bugs 1:85–91 (2010)
  4. ^ Gupta, Radhey S.; Patel, Sudip; Saini, Navneet; Chen, Shu (2020-11-01). "Robust demarcation of 17 distinct Bacillus species clades, proposed as novel Bacillaceae genera, by phylogenomics and comparative genomic analyses: description of Robertmurraya kyonggiensis sp. nov. and proposal for an emended genus Bacillus limiting it only to the members of the Subtilis and Cereus clades of species". International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. 70 (11): 5753–5798. doi:10.1099/ijsem.0.004475. ISSN 1466-5026. PMID 33112222.
  5. ^ Parte, Aidan C.; Sardà Carbasse, Joaquim; Meier-Kolthoff, Jan P.; Reimer, Lorenz C.; Göker, Markus (2020-11-01). "Species Priestia megaterium". International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. 70 (11): 5607–5612. doi:10.1099/ijsem.0.004332. ISSN 1466-5026. PMC 7723251. PMID 32701423.