''Acetobacter'' is a genus of acetic acid bacteria. Acetic acid bacteria are characterized by the ability to convert ethanol to

acetic acid Acetic acid , systematically named ethanoic acid , is an acidic, colourless liquid and organic compound with the chemical formula (also written as , , or ). Vinegar is at least 4% acetic acid by volume, making acetic acid the main component ...

in the presence of oxygen. Of these, the genus ''Acetobacter'' is distinguished by the ability to oxidize

lactate Lactate may refer to: * Lactation, the secretion of milk from the mammary glands * Lactate, the conjugate base of lactic acid Lactic acid is an organic acid. It has a molecular formula . It is white in the solid state and it is miscible with ...

and

acetate An acetate is a salt (chemistry), salt formed by the combination of acetic acid with a base (e.g. Alkali metal, alkaline, Alkaline earth metal, earthy, Transition metal, metallic, nonmetallic or radical Radical (chemistry), base). "Acetate" als ...

into carbon dioxide and water. Bacteria of the genus ''Acetobacter'' have been isolated from industrial vinegar fermentation processes and are frequently used as fermentation starter cultures.

History of research

The acetic fermentation was demonstrated by

Louis Pasteur Louis Pasteur (, ; 27 December 1822 – 28 September 1895) was a French chemist and microbiologist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurization, the latter of which was named afte ...

, who discovered the first acetobacter - ''

Acetobacter aceti ''Acetobacter aceti'' is a Gram-negative bacterium that moves using its peritrichous flagella. Louis Pasteur proved it to be the cause of conversion of ethanol to acetic acid in 1864. It is a benign microorganism which is present everywhere in ...

'' - in

1864 Events January–March * January 13 – American songwriter Stephen Foster ("Oh! Susanna", "Old Folks at Home") dies aged 37 in New York City, leaving a scrap of paper reading "Dear friends and gentle hearts". His parlor song " ...

. In 1998, two strains of ''Acetobacter'' isolated from

red wine Red wine is a type of wine made from dark-colored grape varieties. The color of the wine can range from intense violet, typical of young wines, through to brick red for mature wines and brown for older red wines. The juice from most purple grap ...

and

cider vinegar Apple cider vinegar, or cider vinegar, is a vinegar made from fermented apple juice, and used in salad dressings, marinades, vinaigrettes, food preservatives, and chutneys. It is made by crushing apples, then squeezing out the juice. Bacteria an ...

were named ''

Acetobacter oboediens ''Acetobacter'' is a genus of acetic acid bacteria. Acetic acid bacteria are characterized by the ability to convert ethanol to acetic acid in the presence of oxygen. Of these, the genus ''Acetobacter'' is distinguished by the ability to oxidiz ...

'' and '' Acetobacter pomorum''. In 2000, ''Acetobacter oboediens'' and ''

Acetobacter intermedius ''Acetobacter'' is a genus of acetic acid bacteria. Acetic acid bacteria are characterized by the ability to convert ethanol to acetic acid in the presence of oxygen. Of these, the genus ''Acetobacter'' is distinguished by the ability to oxidiz ...

'' were transferred to '' Gluconacetobacter'' on the basis of

16S rRNA 16S rRNA may refer to: * 16S ribosomal RNA 16 S ribosomal RNA (or 16 S rRNA) is the RNA component of the 30S subunit of a prokaryotic ribosome ( SSU rRNA). It binds to the Shine-Dalgarno sequence and provides most of the SSU structure. The g ...

sequencing. In 2002, ''

Acetobacter cerevisiae ''Acetobacter cerevisiae'' is a species of Gram negative acetic acid bacteria. Its type strain is LMG 1625T (= DSM 14362T = NCIB 8894T = ATCC 23765T). History The species was identified in 2002 by DNA-DNA hybridization as a group of relate ...

'' and ''

Acetobacter malorum ''Acetobacter malorum'' is a bacterium. Its type strain is LMG 1746T (= DSM 14337T). References Further reading * *Sagarzazu, Noelia Isabel, et al. "Optimization of denaturing high performance liquid chromatography technique for rapid detectio ...

'' were identified by 16S rRNA sequence analysis of ''Acetobacter'' strains. In 2006, a strain of ''Acetobacter'' isolated from spoiled red wine was named '' Acetobacter oeni''.

Microbiota

Regarding the genus ''Acetobacter''’s involvement with other organisms, it is known for having species that are important commensal bacteria in the gut microbiome of '' Drosophila melanogaster''. The species '' A. pomorum'' specifically helps uphold the physiology and development of '' Drosophila melanogaster'' through insulin/ insulin-like growth factor signaling.