Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus

A Microbial Biorealm page on the genus Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus

Classification

Higher order taxa

Bacteria; Proteobacteria; Deltaproteobacteria; Bdellovibrionales; Bdellovibrionaceae; Bdellovibrio

Species

Bdellovibro bacteriovous

NCBI: TaxonomyGenome

Description and significance

"Bdellovibrios" were discovered by Stolp and Petzhold in 1962, in an attempt to isolate bacteriophage from soil samples. Stolp and Petzhold observed unique plaques in their samples that took several days to develop and continued to grow for over a week, instead of plaques caused by bacteriophages that would appear within hours. A closer inspection of the plaques under a light microscope revealed cells that were small, highly motile, and vibrio-shaped. These cells were "Bdellovibrios".

After the discovery of "Bdellovibrios" further observations revealed many interesting and unique properties.

References

Edited by student of Rachel Larsen and Hiu Cheng