| Clostridium phytofermentans | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Bacteria |
| Kingdom: | Bacillati |
| Phylum: | Bacillota |
| Class: | Clostridia |
| Order: | Eubacteriales |
| Family: | Clostridiaceae |
| Genus: | Clostridium |
| Species: | C. phytofermentans |
| Binomial name | |
| Clostridium phytofermentans Warnick et al. 2002 | |
Clostridium phytofermentans [1] (also called Lachnoclostridium phytofermentans) is an obligately anaerobic rod-shaped spore-forming, Gram-positive bacterium in the family Lachnospiraceae. It is a model organism of interest for its ability to ferment diverse plant polysaccharides [2] including cellulose, hemicellulose, and pectin to ethanol, acetate, and hydrogen. The C. phytofermentans 4.8 Mb genome has been fully sequenced, [3] revealing it contains over 170 enzymes in the CAZy database, though one hydrolase appears to be essential for degrading cellulose. [4]
This species is one of the many phylogenetically-problematic members of Clostridium. Yutin and Galperin proposed in 2013 to move it to its own genus Lachnoclostridium under Lachnospiraceae, but the publication was not validated under the Prokaryotic Code. [5] GTDB concurs with the assignment. [6]
