Hedlund, Brian P.

Abstract Xi.phi.ne.ma.to.bac'ter. Gr. neut. n. Xiphinema, ‐atos the genus name of the host organism; N.L. masc. n. bacter the equivalent of Gr. neut. n. baktron a rod; N.L. masc. n. Xiphinematobacter the rod‐shaped microbe associated with Xiphinema . Full‐grown cells are rod‐shaped with rounded ends, 0.7–1.0 × 2.1–3.2 μm ; however, cells in the J 1 (first juvenile) stage of nematode development have a wrinkled, pleomorphic shape. The longer entities usually consist of a mother cell from which a daughter cell is budding, giving rise to serial pairs typical of this bacterial genus. In thin sections cells have two or three membranes consisting of, from inside to outside, a cytoplasmic membrane, an electron‐dense outer membrane, and, in many individuals, a vacuolar membrane which is probably derived from the host cell membrane and which often shows discontinuities. No peptidoglycan layer is evident ; however, a periplasmic hexagonally arrayed monolayer of 10 nm protein units is sometimes present. Gram‐stain‐negative, nonmotile, and nonsporulating. DNA is often condensed at cell poles . Bacteria live as obligate cytoplasmic symbionts with maternal transmission in nematodes of the Xiphinema americanum group ( Nematoda, Longidoridae ), in which they are presumed to induce thelytokous ( mother‐to‐daughter ) parthenogenesis . DNA G + C content ( mol %): not determined. Type species : “ Candidatus Xiphinematobacter brevicolli ” Vandekerckhove, Willems, Gillis and Coomans 2000, 2203. Taxonomic and Nomenclature Notes According to the List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature (LPSN), the taxonomic status of the genus Candidatus Xiphinematobacter is: preferred name (not correct name) (last update, February 2025) * . LPSN classification: Bacteria / Pseudomonadati / Verrucomicrobiota / Terrimicrobiia / Terrimicrobiales / Chthoniobacteraceae / Candidatus Xiphinematobacter Candidatus Xiphinematobacter could not be recovered in GTDB ** . * Meier‐Kolthoff et al. ( 2022 ). Nucleic Acids Res , 50 , D801 – D807 ; DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkab902 ** Parks et al. ( 2022 ). Nucleic Acids Res , 50 , D785 – D794 ; DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkab776

A thermophilic, filamentous, heterotrophic bacterium, designated strain JAD2T, a member of an as-yet uncultivated lineage that is present and sometimes abundant in some hot springs worldwide, was isolated from sediment of Great Boiling Spring in Nevada, USA. Cells had a mean diameter of 0.3 µm and length of 4.0 µm, and formed filaments that typically ranged in length from 20 to 200 µm. Filaments were negative for the Gram stain reaction, spores were not formed and motility was not observed. The optimum temperature for growth was 72.5–75 °C, with a range of 67.5–75 °C, and the optimum pH for growth was 6.75, with a range of pH 6.5–7.75. Peptone, tryptone or yeast extract were able to support growth when supplemented with vitamins, but no growth was observed using a variety of defined organic substrates. Strain JAD2T was microaerophilic and facultatively anaerobic, with optimal growth at 1 % (v/v) O2 and an upper limit of 8 % O2. The major cellular fatty acids (>5 %) were C16 : 0, C19 : 0, C18 : 0, C20 : 0 and C19 : 1. The genomic DNA G+C content was 69.3 mol%. Phylogenetic and phylogenomic analyses using sequences of the 16S rRNA gene and other conserved genes placed JAD2T within the phylum Chloroflexi , but not within any existing class in this phylum. These results indicate that strain JAD2T is the first cultivated representative of a novel lineage within the phylum Chloroflexi , for which we propose the name Thermoflexus hugenholtzii gen. nov., sp. nov., within Thermoflexia classis nov., Thermoflexales ord. nov. and Thermoflexaceae fam. nov. The type strain of Thermoflexus hugenholtzii is JAD2T ( = JCM 19131T = CCTCC AB-2014030T).

The candidate division Korarchaeota comprises a group of uncultivated microorganisms that, by their small subunit rRNA phylogeny, may have diverged early from the major archaeal phyla Crenarchaeota and Euryarchaeota . Here, we report the initial characterization of a member of the Korarchaeota with the proposed name, “ Candidatus Korarchaeum cryptofilum,” which exhibits an ultrathin filamentous morphology. To investigate possible ancestral relationships between deep-branching Korarchaeota and other phyla, we used whole-genome shotgun sequencing to construct a complete composite korarchaeal genome from enriched cells. The genome was assembled into a single contig 1.59 Mb in length with a G + C content of 49%. Of the 1,617 predicted protein-coding genes, 1,382 (85%) could be assigned to a revised set of archaeal Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COGs). The predicted gene functions suggest that the organism relies on a simple mode of peptide fermentation for carbon and energy and lacks the ability to synthesize de novo purines, CoA, and several other cofactors. Phylogenetic analyses based on conserved single genes and concatenated protein sequences positioned the korarchaeote as a deep archaeal lineage with an apparent affinity to the Crenarchaeota . However, the predicted gene content revealed that several conserved cellular systems, such as cell division, DNA replication, and tRNA maturation, resemble the counterparts in the Euryarchaeota . In light of the known composition of archaeal genomes, the Korarchaeota might have retained a set of cellular features that represents the ancestral archaeal form.