The ''Caryophanaceae'' is 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 ...

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 ...

. In 2020, the now defunct family '' Planococcaceae'' was merged into ''Caryophanaceae'' to rectify a nomenclature anomaly. The type genus of this family is ''

Caryophanon The ''Caryophanaceae'' is a family (taxonomy), family of Gram-positive bacteria. In 2020, the now defunct family ''Planococcaceae'' was merged into ''Caryophanaceae'' to rectify a nomenclature anomaly. The type genus of this family is ''Caryophan ...

.'' The family ''Planococcacae'' was validly published in 1949, however it contained within it another family level taxonomic rank, the family ''Caryophanaceae,'' which was validly published in 1939. According to the International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes (ICNP), the name ''Caryophanacaeae'' has higher priority than ''Planococcaceae'' because of its earlier publication. Therefore, the emended family retained the name ''Caryophanaceae''. The name ''Caryophanaceae'' is derived from the Latin term ''Caryophanon'', referring the type genus of the family and the suffix "-aceae", an ending used to denote a family. Together, ''Caryophanaceae'' refers to a family whose nomenclatural type is the genus ''Caryophanon''.

Biochemical Characteristics and Molecular Signatures

Cells from members of the family ''Caryophanaceae'' can be cocci or rods, sometimes forming filaments or trichomes. Most species are strictly aerobic heterotrophs, although some are also facultatively aerobes. Cells are generally motile by flagella or gliding and they may or may not form endospores. Most species are catalase-positive and oxidase positive or negative. Analyses of genome sequences from ''Caryophanaceae'' species identified 13

conserved signature indels Conserved signature inserts and deletions (CSIs) in protein sequences provide an important category of molecular markers for understanding phylogenetic relationships. CSIs, brought about by rare genetic changes, provide useful phylogenetic markers ...

(CSIs) that are uniquely present in this family in the proteins phenylalanine–tRNA ligase subunit alpha,

chaperonin HSP60, also known as chaperonins (Cpn), is a family of heat shock proteins originally sorted by their 60kDa molecular mass. They prevent misfolding of proteins during stressful situations such as high heat, by assisting protein folding. HSP60 bel ...

GroEL, ribosome maturation factor RimP, BrxA/BrxB family bacilliredoxin, RNA methyltransferase, Rhomboid family intramembrane serine protease, ATP-dependent Clp protease ATP-binding subunit,

DNA-directed RNA polymerase A polymerase is an enzyme ( EC 2.7.7.6/7/19/48/49) that synthesizes long chains of polymers or nucleic acids. DNA polymerase and RNA polymerase are used to assemble DNA and RNA molecules, respectively, by copying a DNA template strand using bas ...

subunit beta, chorismate synthase, stage IV sporulation protein A,

peptidase A protease (also called a peptidase, proteinase, or proteolytic enzyme) is an enzyme that catalyzes (increases reaction rate or "speeds up") proteolysis, breaking down proteins into smaller polypeptides or single amino acids, and spurring the for ...

, KinB-signaling pathway activation protein, and DUF423 domain-containing protein. These CSIs serve as a reliable molecular means of demarcating members ''Caryophanaceae'' from other families within the order ''Caryophanales'' and other bacteria.

Historical Systematics and Current Taxonomy

''Caryophanaceae'', as of 2021, contains 19 validly published genera. In addition to the nomenclature anomaly, ''Caryophanaceae'' also encompassed over 100 species that had varying morphology/biochemical characteristics, demonstrating that they were phylogenetically unrelated. The original assignment of species into the family ''Caryophanaceae'' was largely based on 16S rRNA genome sequence analyses, which is known to have low discriminatory power and the results of which changes depends on the algorithm and organism information used. Despite this, the analyses still exhibited polyphyletic branching, indicating the presence of distinct subgroups within the family. In 2020, Gupta and Patel proposed the emendation of ''Caryophanaceae,'' specifically the unification with ''Planoccocacae'', the proposal of 3 new genera as well as the transfer of a number of misclassified species into the appropriate genera. The changes were proposed based on various phylogenetic trees constructed based on multiple large datasets of protein sequences and the identification of unique molecular markers known as conserved signatures indels in multiple proteins.

References

Bacillales {{bacilli-stub