Verrucomicrobiota is a phylum of Gram-negative bacteria that contains only a few described species. The species identified have been isolated from fresh water, marine and soil environments and human faeces. A number of as-yet uncultivated species have been identified in association with eukaryotic hosts including extrusive explosive ectosymbionts of protists and endosymbionts of nematodes from genus Xiphinema, residing in their gametes.[2][3] The verrucomicrobial bacterium Akkermansia muciniphila is a human intestinal symbiotic bacterium that is considered as a promising probiotic.[4]
Verrucomicrobiota are abundant within the environment, though relatively inactive.[5] This phylum is considered to have two sister phyla: Chlamydiota (formerly Chlamydiae) and Lentisphaerota (formerly Lentisphaerae) within the PVC superphylum.[6] The Verrucomicrobiota phylum can be distinguished from neighbouring phyla within the PVC group by the presence of several conserved signature indels (CSIs).[7] These CSIs represent unique, synapomorphic characteristics that suggest common ancestry within Verrucomicrobiota and an independent lineage amidst other bacteria.[8]CSIs have also been found that are shared by Verrucomicrobiota and Chlamydiota exclusively of all other bacteria.[9] These CSIs provide evidence that Chlamydiota is the closest relative to Verrucomicrobiota, and that they are more closely related to one another than to the Planctomycetales.
^Coomans A, Vandekerckhove TT, Claeys M (1 January 2000). "Transovarial transmission of symbionts in Xiphinema brevicollum (Nematoda: Longidoridae)". Nematology. 2 (4). Brill: 443–449. doi:10.1163/156854100509303. eISSN1568-5411. ISSN1388-5545.
^Vandekerckhove TT, Willems A, Gillis M, Coomans A (2000). "Occurrence of novel verrucomicrobial species, endosymbiotic and associated with parthenogenesis in Xiphinema americanum-group species (Nematoda, Longidoridae)". International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. 50 (6). Microbiology Society: 2197–2205. doi:10.1099/00207713-50-6-2197. ISSN1466-5034. PMID11155997.
^Cho J, Vergin K, Morris R, Giovannoni S (2004). "Lentisphaera araneosa gen. nov., sp. nov, a transparent exopolymer producing marine bacterium, and the description of a novel bacterial phylum, Lentisphaerae". Environ Microbiol. 6 (6): 611–21. Bibcode:2004EnvMi...6..611C. doi:10.1111/j.1462-2920.2004.00614.x. PMID15142250.
^Wagner, M; Horn, M (2006). "The Planctomycetes, Verrucomicrobia, Chlamydiae and sister phyla comprise a superphylum with biotechnological and medical relevance". Current Opinion in Biotechnology. 17 (3): 241–9. doi:10.1016/j.copbio.2006.05.005. PMID16704931.