The Family Microbacteriaceae

Abstract

IntroductionThe family Microbacteriaceae (Park et al., 1993; Stackebrandt et al., 1997) embraces a large group of predominantly aerobic Gram-positive bacteria of high G+C content that are distinguished from other actinobacteria by a combination of their unusual B group cell wall peptidoglycan and unsaturated respiratory menaquinones. The bacteria vary in cell morphology, extending from coccoid, small irregular rods to branched fragmenting hyphae. They are spread in various terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and can be associated with plants, fungi, animals and clinical specimens (Collins and Bradbury, 1992; Funke et al., 1997; Glöckner et al., 2000). Several species and subspecies of the family include either plant pathogens or organisms for which plant pathogenicity has been suggested (Young et al., 1996; Young et al., 2000). The family is a member of the order Actinomycetales, class Actinobacteria (Stackebrandt et al., 1997), and currently harbors 15 genera: Agreia, Agroc ...