The Bacillaceae are a

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

gram-positive In bacteriology, gram-positive bacteria are bacteria that give a positive result in the Gram stain test, which is traditionally used to quickly classify bacteria into two broad categories according to their type of cell wall. Gram-positive bact ...

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 ...

, rod-shaped

bacteria Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometr ...

that may produce endospores. Motile members of this family are characterized by peritrichous flagella. Some Bacillaceae are

aerobic Aerobic means "requiring air," in which "air" usually means oxygen. Aerobic may also refer to * Aerobic exercise, prolonged exercise of moderate intensity * Aerobics, a form of aerobic exercise * Aerobic respiration, the aerobic process of cel ...

, while others are facultative or strict

anaerobes An anaerobic organism or anaerobe is any organism that does not require molecular oxygen for growth. It may react negatively or even die if free oxygen is present. In contrast, an aerobic organism (aerobe) is an organism that requires an oxygenate ...

. Most are not pathogenic, but ''

Bacillus ''Bacillus'' (Latin "stick") is a genus of Gram-positive, rod-shaped bacteria, a member of the phylum '' Bacillota'', with 266 named species. The term is also used to describe the shape (rod) of other so-shaped bacteria; and the plural ''Bacill ...

'' species are known to cause disease in humans.

Gram-variable cell wall

Some Bacillaceae, such as the genera '' Filobacillus, Lentibacillus,'' and '' Halobacillus'', stain Gram-negative or Gram-variable, but are known to have a Gram-positive cell wall.Lim, J.M., Jeon, C.O., Song, S.M., and C.J. Kim. 2005
''Pontibacillus chungwhensis gen. nov., sp. nov., a moderately halophilic Gram-positive bacterium from a solar saltern in Korea''
Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 55:165-170.

Nomenclature

Taxa within this family are sometimes colloquially identified as

bacilli Bacilli is a taxonomic class of bacteria that includes two orders, Bacillales and Lactobacillales, which contain several well-known pathogens such as ''Bacillus anthracis'' (the cause of anthrax). ''Bacilli'' are almost exclusively gram-positi ...

. However, this term is ambiguous because it does not distinguish between class

Bacilli Bacilli is a taxonomic class of bacteria that includes two orders, Bacillales and Lactobacillales, which contain several well-known pathogens such as ''Bacillus anthracis'' (the cause of anthrax). ''Bacilli'' are almost exclusively gram-positi ...

, order

Bacillales The Bacillales are an order of Gram-positive bacteria, placed within the Bacillota. Representative genera include ''Bacillus'', ''Listeria'' and ''Staphylococcus ''Staphylococcus'' is a genus of Gram-positive bacteria in the family Staph ...

, family Bacillaceae, and genus ''

''.

Genera

The

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of conver ...

family Bacillaceae comprises the following:

References

Bacillales {{Bacilli-stub

Gram-variable cell wall

Nomenclature

Genera

See Also

References