Gram negative bacterium

Gram-negative bacteria are a group of bacteria that do not retain the crystal violet stain used in the gram-staining method of bacterial differentiation. They are characterized by their cell envelopes, which are composed of a thin peptidoglycan cell wall sandwiched between an inner cytoplasmic cell membrane and a bacterial outer membrane.

Gram-negative bacteria are found everywhere, in virtually all environments on Earth that support life. The gram-negative bacteria include the model organism Escherichia coli, as well as many pathogenic bacteria, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Chlamydia trachomatis, and Yersinia pestis. Several classes of antibiotics target gram-negative bacteria specifically, including aminoglycosides and carbapenems.

Gram-negative bacteria display these characteristics:

Along with cell shape, gram-staining is a rapid diagnostic tool and once was used to group species at the subdivision of Bacteria. Historically, the kingdom Monera was divided into four divisions based on gram-staining: Firmacutes (+), Gracillicutes (−), Mollicutes (0) and Mendocutes (var.). Since 1987, the monophyly of the gram-negative bacteria has been disproven with molecular studies. However some authors, such as Cavalier-Smith still treat them as a monophyletic taxon (though not a clade; his definition of monophyly requires a single common ancestor but does not require holophyly, the property that all descendents be encompassed by the taxon) and refer to the group as a subkingdom "Negibacteria".

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