Auribacterota

Auribacterota
Scientific classification
Domain:	Bacteria
Kingdom:	Pseudomonadati
Phylum:	Auribacterota Williams et al. 2022
Classes
"Ca. Ancaeobacteria" "Ca. Auribacteria" "Ca. Erginobacteria" "Ca. Tritonobacteria"
Synonyms
"Ca. Aureabacteria" Momper et al. 2017 emend. Williams et al. 2022 SURF-CP-2

Auribacterota is a candidate bacterial phylum of uncultured anaerobes first found in gold mine fluids. The name comes from Latin aurum (gold). It is known only from metagenomes. ^{[1] [2]}

These bacteria are strict fermenters. They eat sugars and amino acids, and make H₂ and H₂S. No oxygen is used. Some of these bacteria have gas vesicles or pili. ^[2]

The bacteria live in anoxic water columns, sediments, and subsurface. They are common in Ace Lake, Antarctica (up to 4% of microbes). ^[2] They help break down dead stuff and cycle sulfur. ^[3]

There are four candidate classes. Type species: "Candidatus Auribacter fodinae".

Phylogeny

The phylum Auribacterota is not validly published and remains a candidate phylum. It was proposed by Williams et al. (2022) based on metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) from Ace Lake, a meromictic lake in Antarctica. The taxonomy includes four candidate classes, each containing novel genera and species identified from high-quality MAGs. Phylogenetic analyses place Auribacterota among the "microbial dark matter" phyla, distinct from well-characterized bacterial lineages.

The currently accepted taxonomy is based on the List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature (LPSN) ^[1] and National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). ^[4]

120 marker proteins based GTDB 10-RS226 [5] [6] [7]

JACPWU01 "Theseobacterales" "Theseobacteraceae" "Ca. Theseobacter exili" Williams et al. 2022 "Ancaeobacteria" "Ancaeobacterales" "Ancaeobacteraceae" "Ca. Ancaeobacter aquaticus" Williams et al. 2022 "Auribacteria" "Auribacterales" "Auribacteraceae" "Ca. Auribacter fodinae" Williams et al. 2022 "Tritonobacteria" "Tritonobacterales" "Tritonobacteraceae" "Ca. Tritonobacter lacicola" Williams et al. 2022 "Erginobacteria" "Erginobacterales" "Erginobacteraceae" "Ca. Erginobacter occultus" Williams et al. 2022 "Ca. Euphemobacter frigidus" Williams et al. 2022

See also

• List of bacterial orders
• List of bacteria genera

References

1. Auribacterota in LPSN ; Freese, H. M.; Meier-Kolthoff, J. P.; Sardà Carbasse, J.; Afolayan, A. O.; Göker, M. (29 October 2025). "TYGS and LPSN in 2025: a Global Core Biodata Resource for genome-based classification and nomenclature of prokaryotes within DSMZ Digital Diversity". Nucleic Acids Research. 53: D1 –D12. doi:10.1093/nar/gkaf1110.
2. Williams, Timothy J.; Allen, Michelle A.; Panwar, Pratibha; Cavicchioli, Ricardo (May 2022). "Into the darkness: the ecologies of novel 'microbial dark matter' phyla in an Antarctic lake". Environmental Microbiology. 24 (5): 2576–2603. Bibcode:2022EnvMi..24.2576W. doi:10.1111/1462-2920.16026. ISSN   1462-2920. PMC   9324843 . PMID   35466505.
3. Momper, Lily; Jungbluth, Sean P.; Lee, Michael D.; Amend, Jan P. (October 2017). "Energy and carbon metabolisms in a deep terrestrial subsurface fluid microbial community". The ISME Journal. 11 (10): 2319–2333. Bibcode:2017ISMEJ..11.2319M. doi:10.1038/ismej.2017.94. ISSN   1751-7370. PMC   5607374 . PMID   28644444.
4. Schoch CL; et al. "Auribacterota". National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) taxonomy database. Retrieved 2025-06-05.
5. "GTDB release 10-RS226". Genome Taxonomy Database . Retrieved 1 May 2025.
6. "bac120_r226.sp_label". Genome Taxonomy Database . Retrieved 1 May 2025.
7. "Taxon History". Genome Taxonomy Database . Retrieved 1 May 2025.