Verrucomicrobia


Verrucomicrobia is a phylum of bacteria that contains only a few described species. The species identified have been isolated from fresh water, marine and soil environments and human faeces. A number of as-yet uncultivated species have been identified in association with eukaryotic hosts including extrusive explosive ectosymbionts of protists and endosymbionts of nematodes residing in their gametes.
Verrucomicrobia are abundant within the environment. This phylum is considered to have two sister phyla: Chlamydiae and Lentisphaerae within the PVC group. The Verrucomicrobia phylum can be distinguished from neighbouring phyla within the PVC group by the presence of several conserved signature indels. These CSIs represent unique, synapomorphic characteristics that suggest common ancestry within Verrucomicrobia and an independent lineage amidst other bacteria. CSIs have also been found that are shared by Verrucomicrobia and Chlamydiae exclusively of all other bacteria. These CSIs provide evidence that Chlamydiae is the closest relative to Verrucomicrobia, and that they are more closely related to one another than to the Planctomycetales.
Verrucomicrobia might belong in the clade Planctobacteria in the larger clade Gracilicutes.
In 2008, the whole genome of Methylacidiphilum infernorum was published. On the single circular chromosome, 2473 predicted proteins were found, 731 of which had no detectable homologs. These analyses also revealed many possible homologies with Proteobacteria.

Phylogeny

The phylogeny based on the work of the All-Species Living Tree Project.

Taxonomy

The currently accepted taxonomy is based on the List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature and the National Center for Biotechnology Information.
Notes:

Strain found at the National Center for Biotechnology Information but has no standing with the Bacteriological Code as detailed by List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature as a result of the following reasons: