The family lentisphaeraceae

Abstract

The family Lentisphaeraceae belongs to the order Lentisphaerales of the phylum Lentisphaerae and currently contains only a single genus with two species, Lentisphaera araneosa and Lentisphaera marina. The family encompasses four cultured strains in two Lentisphaera species and related environmental 16S rRNA gene sequences retrieved from marine habitats. Delineation of the family is primarily determined based on phylogenetic information of 16S rRNA sequences, and the most closely related family is the Victivallaceae, member of which are mostly anaerobic bacteria. Two species of the type genus Lentisphaera share similar characteristics such as sphere-cell morphology, production of extracellular polysaccharides, MK-7 as a respiratory quinone, and phosphatidylethanolamine as a major polar lipid. This contribution is a modified and updated version of the previous family description (Cho JC, and Hedlund BP (2011).