The Aquificales species are strict hyper-thermophilic organisms, which are presently believed to form the earliest branching lineage within Bacteria. However, the branching position of this group in phylogenetic trees is highly variable and not resolved. This phylum is presently recognized solely on the basis of its branching in the 16rRNA tree. There is no known molecular or other characteristic that distinguishes this group from other Bacteria. The signatures described in this section provide molecular markers both for their identification as well as for understanding its phylogenetic placement.
Overall Branching Order of the Aquificales
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References:
Griffiths, E. and Gupta, R. S. (2004) Signature Sequences in Diverse Proteins Provide Evidence for the Late Divergence of the Order Aquificales. International Microbiol. 7: 41-52. [Abstract]
Griffiths, E. and Gupta, R. S. (2006) Signatures Proteins that are distinctive molecular characteristics of the Aquificae species. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 56: 99-107. [PDF]
Gupta, R.S. (2005) Phylogeny and Signature Sequences Distinctive of the Aquificales. Invited presentation at the Thermophiles 2005 Conference, Gold Coast , Australia . [PDF of the Power Point presentation]
Huber, R. and Eder, W. (2002) Aquificales. In: The Prokaryotes: An Evolving Electronic Resource for the Microbiological Community, Ed M. e. al. Dworkin. Springer-Verlag: New York.
Ludwig, W. and Klenk, H.-P. (2001) Overview: A phylogenetic backbone and taxonomic framework for prokaryotic systematics. In D. R. Boone and R. W. Castenholz (eds.), Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology, vol. Vol. 1, The Archaea and the deeply branching and phototrophic Bacteria, 2nd ed, pp. 49-65, Springer-Verlag, Berlin. [PDF]
Reysenbach, A.-L. (2001) Phylum BI. Aquifcae phy. nov. In: Bergey's Manual of Systemactic Bacteriology, pp. 359-367. Eds D. R. Boone, R. W. Castenholz. Springer-Verlag: Berlin.
Tree of Life Web Project. 2006. Version 10 March 2006, http://tolweb.org
Citation for this webpage:
Bacterial (Prokaryotic) Phylogeny Webpage (March 2006). http://www.bacterialphylogeny.com/index.html