Polaromonas vacuolata
Higher Order Taxa
Bacteria; Proteobacteria; Betaproteobacteria; Burkholderiales; Comamonadaceae; Polaromonas
Description and Significance
Genome
Cell Structure and Metabolism
The bacteria which were studied were short, unicellular, gram-negative rods(0.8 by 2 to 3 pm) that typically produced gas vacuoles which appeared as bright refractile areas within the cells. [1] While the cells were non-motile when cultured, the appearance of flagella suggests that they are capable of self-propulsion.
The bacteria grew when the tryptone, yeast extract, beef extract, and vitamins of SWC-m were replaced with vitamin-free Casamino Acids, indicating that vitamins are not required for growth.[1]
The carbon sources that the bacteria was found to be able to utilize were lactate, glutamate, arginine, succinate, alanine, malate, ornithine, and fumarate. [2]
Ecology
Related Bacterial Species
In 2004 another organism was proposed for the genus Polaromonas, Polaramonas Napthalenivorans CJ2, which is an aquatic gram-negative, non-spore forming, non-motile coccus. It is capable of growth with naphthalene as its sole carbon and energy source.[3]
The two most closely related species when the organism was first discovered its two closest relatives were Rhodoferax fermentans, a nonsulfur purple bacterium, and V. paradoxus, a chemoorganotroph and facultative lithoautotroph.[1] This relationship was found through analysis of the 16S rDNA sequences of the bacteria by simple sequence homology.
Pathology
At this time, there are no diseases related to this organism have been observed.