Vampirococcus

Figure 1--Vampirococcus
Vampirococcus cells (red) attached to a Chromatium prey (light green) by the means of electron-dense material [3]

Classification

Higher order taxa

Kingdom: Prokaryotae

• Domain: Bacteria
  • Phylum: Unknown
    • Class: Unknown
      • Order: Unknown
        • Family: Unknown

As of 2008, "Phylogenetic Analysis of Vampirococcus and Daptobacter has yet to be undertaken...[1]"

Species

• Genus: Vampirococcus

• Species: Unknown

Description and significance

Vampriococcus is one of few known predatory prokaryotes. It is a 0.6 micrometer, ovidal bacteria of which no modal forms have been found. It is a gram-negative bacteria that is found in freshwater sulfurous lakes in northern Spain. As an anaerobic epibiont, it attaches itself to the surface of Chromatium a phototropic bacteria, by specific structures, and as it grows and devides by fission, it destroys its prey [2]. The structures used by Vampirococcus to attach itself to its prey could best be described as cytoplasmic "bridges." From these bridges, a connection is established to the prey which allows the Vampirococcus bacterium to degrade the preys cytoplasm [4]

Genomic Structure

"Phylogenetic Analysis of Vampirococcus and Daptobacter has yet to be undertaken (as they have not yet been grown in culture)" [1]. The article goes on to say that Vampirococcus may be related to Deltaproterbacteria and Bdellovibro due to the manor of their growth.

Sources

[1] Whitworth, David E. "Myxobacteria [electronic resource] : multicellularity and differentiation" Washington, DC : ASM Press, c2008.

[2] Ricardo Guerrero,Carlos Pedros-Alio Et al. Predatory prokaryotes: Predation and primary consumption evolved in bacteria, Evolution and Microbiology, Vol. 83, pp. 2138-2142, April 1986

[3] Edouard Jurkevitch,Predatory Behaviors in Bacteria—Diversity and Transitions, Microbe Volume 2, Number 2, 2007

[4] Martin, Mark O. Journal of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology. Predatory Prokaryotes: An Emerging Research Opportunity, Vol. 4, Issue 5, pp. 467–477, 2002