The Family Chloroflexaceae

Abstract

The discovery of the photosynthetic flexibacteria was made by Pierson and Castenholz (1971), and Chloroflexus aurantiacus was the first genus and species described (Pierson and Castenholz, 1974a). The Chloroflexaceae was proposed as a family (Trüper, 1976) with affinities to the Chlorobiaceae. The similarities with the green sulfur bacteria were signified by grouping both families under the suborder Chlorobiineae. The family was defined as follows: filamentous, phototrophic bacteria with gliding motility, Gram-negative, flexible cell walls, and bacteriochlorophyll (bchl) a and bchl c, d, or e. Included in the family were two other genera, ``Oscillochloris'' and Chloronema.