The Bacillota are a phylum of bacteria, most of which have gram-positive cell wall structure. The renaming of phyla such as Firmicutes in 2021 remains controversial among microbiologists, many of whom continue to use the earlier names of long standing in the literature.
The green sulfur bacteria are a phylum of obligately anaerobic photoautotrophic bacteria that metabolize sulfur.
The Chloroflexia are a class of bacteria in the phylum Chloroflexota, known as filamentous green non-sulfur bacteria. They use light for energy and are named for their green pigment, usually found in photosynthetic bodies called chlorosomes.
Bacteriochlorophylls (BChl) are photosynthetic pigments that occur in various phototrophic bacteria. They were discovered by C. B. van Niel in 1932. They are related to chlorophylls, which are the primary pigments in plants, algae, and cyanobacteria. Organisms that contain bacteriochlorophyll conduct photosynthesis to sustain their energy requirements, but do not produce oxygen as a byproduct. They use wavelengths of light not absorbed by plants or cyanobacteria. Replacement of Mg2+ with protons gives bacteriophaeophytin (BPh), the phaeophytin form.
Purple bacteria or purple photosynthetic bacteria are Gram-negative proteobacteria that are phototrophic, capable of producing their own food via photosynthesis. They are pigmented with bacteriochlorophyll a or b, together with various carotenoids, which give them colours ranging between purple, red, brown, and orange. They may be divided into two groups – purple sulfur bacteria and purple non-sulfur bacteria (Rhodospirillaceae). Purple bacteria are anoxygenic phototrophs widely spread in nature, but especially in aquatic environments, where there are anoxic conditions that favor the synthesis of their pigments.
The Chromatiaceae are one of the two families of purple sulfur bacteria, together with the Ectothiorhodospiraceae. They belong to the order Chromatiales of the class Gammaproteobacteria, which is composed by unicellular Gram-negative organisms. Most of the species are photolithoautotrophs and conduct an anoxygenic photosynthesis, but there are also representatives capable of growing under dark and/or microaerobic conditions as either chemolithoautotrophs or chemoorganoheterotrophs.
Phototrophs are organisms that carry out photon capture to produce complex organic compounds and acquire energy. They use the energy from light to carry out various cellular metabolic processes. It is a common misconception that phototrophs are obligatorily photosynthetic. Many, but not all, phototrophs often photosynthesize: they anabolically convert carbon dioxide into organic material to be utilized structurally, functionally, or as a source for later catabolic processes. All phototrophs either use electron transport chains or direct proton pumping to establish an electrochemical gradient which is utilized by ATP synthase, to provide the molecular energy currency for the cell. Phototrophs can be either autotrophs or heterotrophs. If their electron and hydrogen donors are inorganic compounds they can be also called lithotrophs, and so, some photoautotrophs are also called photolithoautotrophs. Examples of phototroph organisms are Rhodobacter capsulatus, Chromatium, and Chlorobium.
In taxonomy, the Thermoplasmatales are an order of the Thermoplasmata. All are acidophiles, growing optimally at pH below 2. Picrophilus is currently the most acidophilic of all known organisms, being capable of growing at a pH of -0.06. Many of these organisms do not contain a cell wall, although this is not true in the case of Picrophilus. Most members of the Thermotoplasmata are thermophilic.
A chlorosome is a photosynthetic antenna complex found in green sulfur bacteria (GSB) and some green filamentous anoxygenic phototrophs (FAP). They differ from other antenna complexes by their large size and lack of protein matrix supporting the photosynthetic pigments. Green sulfur bacteria are a group of organisms that generally live in extremely low-light environments, such as at depths of 100 metres in the Black Sea. The ability to capture light energy and rapidly deliver it to where it needs to go is essential to these bacteria, some of which see only a few photons of light per chlorophyll per day. To achieve this, the bacteria contain chlorosome structures, which contain up to 250,000 chlorophyll molecules. Chlorosomes are ellipsoidal bodies, in GSB their length varies from 100 to 200 nm, width of 50-100 nm and height of 15 - 30 nm, in FAP the chlorosomes are somewhat smaller.
The Gemmatimonadota are a phylum of bacteria established in 2003. The phylum contains two classes Gemmatimonadetes and Longimicrobia.
In taxonomy, Methanospirillum is a genus of microbes within the family Methanospirillaceae. All its species are methanogenic archaea. The cells are bar-shaped and form filaments. Most produce energy via the reduction of carbon dioxide with hydrogen, but some species can also use formate as a substrate. They are Gram-negative and move using archaella on the sides of the cells. They are strictly anaerobic, and they are found in wetland soil and anaerobic water treatment systems.
The antenna complex in purple photosynthetic bacteria are protein complexes responsible for the transfer of solar energy to the photosynthetic reaction centre. Purple bacteria, particularly Rhodopseudomonos acidophilia of purple non-sulfur bacteria, have been one of the main groups of organisms used to study bacterial antenna complexes so much is known about this group's photosynthetic components. It is one of the many independent types of light-harvesting complex used by various photosynthetic organisms.
Bacterial anoxygenic photosynthesis differs from the better known oxygenic photosynthesis in plants by the reductant used and the byproduct generated.
Aerobic anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria (AAPBs) are Alphaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria that are obligate aerobes that capture energy from light by anoxygenic photosynthesis. Anoxygenic photosynthesis is the phototrophic process where light energy is captured and stored as ATP. The production of oxygen is non-existent and, therefore, water is not used as an electron donor. They are widely distributed marine bacteria that may constitute over 10% of the open ocean microbial community. They can be particularly abundant in oligotrophic conditions where they were found to be 24% of the community. Aerobic anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria are photoheterotrophic (phototroph) microbes that exist in a variety of aquatic environments. Most are obligately aerobic, meaning they require oxygen to grow. One aspect of these bacteria is that they, unlike other similar bacteria, are unable to utilize BChl (bacteriochlorophyll) for anaerobic growth. The only photosynthetic pigment that exists in AAPB is BChl-a. Anaerobic phototrophic bacteria, on the contrary, can contain numerous species of photosynthetic pigments like bacteriochlorophyll-a. These bacteria can be isolated using carotenoid presence and medias containing organic compounds. Predation, as well as the availability of phosphorus and light, have been shown to be important factors that influence AAPB growth in their natural environments. AAPBs are thought to play an important role in carbon cycling by relying on organic matter substrates and acting as sinks for dissolved organic carbon. There is still a knowledge gap in research areas regarding the abundance and genetic diversity of AAPB, as well as the environmental variables that regulate these two properties.
Megasphaera is a genus of Bacillota bacteria classified within the class Negativicutes.
Chlorobium chlorochromatii, originally known as Chlorobium aggregatum, is a symbiotic green sulfur bacteria that performs anoxygenic photosynthesis and functions as an obligate photoautotroph using reduced sulfur species as electron donors. Chlorobium chlorochromatii can be found in stratified freshwater lakes.
Heliothrix oregonensis is a phototrophic filamentous, gliding bacterium containing bacteriochlorophyll a that is aerotolerant and photoheterotrophic.
Okenane, the diagenetic end product of okenone, is a biomarker for Chromatiaceae, the purple sulfur bacteria. These anoxygenic phototrophs use light for energy and sulfide as their electron donor and sulfur source. Discovery of okenane in marine sediments implies a past euxinic environment, where water columns were anoxic and sulfidic. This is potentially tremendously important for reconstructing past oceanic conditions, but so far okenane has only been identified in one Paleoproterozoic rock sample from Northern Australia.
Heliorestis is an alkaliphilic genus of bacteria from the family of Heliobacteriaceae.
Photoautotrophs are organisms that use light energy and inorganic carbon to produce organic materials. Eukaryotic photoautotrophs absorb energy through the chlorophyll molecules in their chloroplasts while prokaryotic photoautotrophs use chlorophylls and bacteriochlorophylls present in their cytoplasm. All known photoautotrophs perform photosynthesis. Examples include plants, algae, and cyanobacteria.
