Allofontibacter
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| Allofontibacter | |
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| Scientific classification (Candidatus) | |
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| Genus: | "Candidatus Allofontibacter" Henson et al., 2018 |
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Allofontibacter (originally Fonsibacter) is a genus of bacteria belonging to the clade Pelagibacteraceae, a group of free-living marine bacterioplankton. This genus is unique as it has evolved to live in freshwater habitats as opposed to the other members of this clade who are marine. This genus contains two recognized species. They are Candidatus Allofontibacter communis (type species) and Canididatus Allofontibacter latus.[1]
The morphology of members within this genus is very conserved across large evolutionary distances. They resemble small, curved rods that are roughly 1 × 0.1 μm in size.[2]
This genus is difficult to cultivate on agar plates due to their lifestyle. In fact, their strain was not isolated until 2018. This difficulty of cultivation and thus study has caused Allofontibacter to change named many times from Fonsibacter to its current name and now potentially Fontibacterium.[3]
Habitat
This lineage has evolved for life in freshwater ecosystems and are oftentimes the most dominate group of freshwater bacterioplankton. They can survive in brackish water environments with salinities of up to~5. They were able to transition from marine to fresh water habitats through several key gene losses for osmolyte uptake.[4]
