''Atribacterota'' is a phylum of bacteria, which are common in

anoxic The term anoxia means a total depletion in the level of oxygen, an extreme form of hypoxia or "low oxygen". The terms anoxia and hypoxia are used in various contexts: * Anoxic waters, sea water, fresh water or groundwater that are depleted of diss ...

sediments Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity In physics, gravity () is a fundame ...

rich in

methane Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane on Ea ...

. They are distributed worldwide and in some cases abundant in

anaerobic Anaerobic means "living, active, occurring, or existing in the absence of free oxygen", as opposed to aerobic which means "living, active, or occurring only in the presence of oxygen." Anaerobic may also refer to: * Anaerobic adhesive, a bonding a ...

marine sediments,

geothermal springs A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by cir ...

, and

oil deposits A petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface accumulation of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations. Such reservoirs form when kerogen (ancient plant matter) is created in surrounding rock by the presence ...

. Genetic analyzes suggest a

heterotrophic A heterotroph (; ) is an organism that cannot produce its own food, instead taking nutrition from other sources of organic carbon, mainly plant or animal matter. In the food chain, heterotrophs are primary, secondary and tertiary consumers, but ...

metabolism Metabolism (, from el, μεταβολή ''metabolē'', "change") is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run c ...

that gives rise to fermentation products such as acetate,

ethanol Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl group linked to a ...

, and . These products in turn can support methanogens within the sediment microbial community and explain the frequent occurrence of Atribacterota in methane-rich anoxic sediments. According to phylogenetic analysis, Atribacterota appears to be related to several thermophilic phyla within

Terrabacteria Terrabacteria is a taxon containing approximately two-thirds of prokaryote species, including those in the gram positive phyla (Actinomycetota and Bacillota) as well as the phyla "Cyanobacteria", Chloroflexota, and Deinococcota. It derives its ...

or may be in the base of

Gracilicutes Gracilicutes (Latin: ''gracilis'', slender, and ''cutis'', skin, referring to the cell wall) is a clade in bacterial phylogeny. Traditionally gram staining results were most commonly used as a classification tool, consequently until the advent o ...

. According to research, Atribacterota shows patterns of gene expressions which consists of fermentative, acetogenic metabolism. These expressions let Atribacterota to be able to create

catabolic Catabolism () is the set of metabolic pathways that breaks down molecules into smaller units that are either oxidized to release energy or used in other anabolic reactions. Catabolism breaks down large molecules (such as polysaccharides, lipid ...

and

anabolic Anabolism () is the set of metabolic pathways that construct molecules from smaller units. These reactions require energy, known also as an endergonic process. Anabolism is the building-up aspect of metabolism, whereas catabolism is the breaking ...

functions which are necessary to generate cellular reproduction, even when the energy levels are limited due to the depletion of dissolved oxygen in the areas of sea waters, fresh waters, or ground waters.

Taxonomy

National Center for Biotechnology Information The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) is part of the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), a branch of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It is approved and funded by the government of the United States. The ...

(NCBI) taxonomy and

List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature (LPSN) is an online database that maintains information on the nomenclature, naming and Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy of prokaryotes, following the taxonomy requirements and rulings of the In ...

(LPSN) were used as the primary taxonomic authority for establishing naming priorities. Also Annotree website, which uses the GTDB release 06-RS202. was consulted. * Class Atribacteria Katayama et al. 2021 ** Order Atribacterales Katayama et al. 2021 *** Family Atribacteraceae Katayama et al. 2021 **** Genus ''

Atribacter ''Atribacter'' is a genus of bacteria of the candidate phylum Atribacterota ''Atribacterota'' is a phylum of bacteria, which are common in anoxic sediments rich in methane. They are distributed worldwide and in some cases abundant in anaerob ...

'' Katayama et al. 2021 ***** Species ''A. laminatus'' Katayama et al. 2021 *** Family " Caldatribacteriaceae" **** Genus "''Candidatus'' Caldatribacterium" Dodsworth et al. 2013 ***** Species "''Ca.'' C. californiense" corrig. Dodsworth et al. 2013 ***** Species "''Ca.'' C. saccharofermentans" Dodsworth et al. 2013

References

Bacteria phyla Bacteria by classification {{Bacteria-stub

Taxonomy

See also

References