Selenomonas
| Selenomonas | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Bacteria |
| Phylum: | Firmicutes |
| Class: | Negativicutes |
| Order: | Selenomonadales |
| Family: | Veillonellaceae |
| Genus: |
Selenomonas von Prowazek 1913 |
| Species | |
|
Selenomonas acidaminovorans |
|
Selenomonas acidaminovorans
Selenomonas artemidis
Selenomonas dianae
Selenomonas flueggei
Selenomonas infelix
Selenomonas lacticifex
Selenomonas lipolytica
Selenomonas noxia
Selenomonas palpitans
Selenomonas ruminantium
Selenomonas sputigena
The genus Selenomonas constitutes a group of motile crescent-shaped bacteria within the Veillonellaceae family and includes species living in the gastrointestinal tracts of animals, in particular the ruminants. A number of smaller forms discovered with the light microscope are now in culture but many, especially the large selenomonads are not, owing to their fastidious and incompletely known growth requirements.
The family Veillonellaceae was transferred from the order Clostridiales to the new order Selenomonadales in the new class Negativicutes. Despite most of the members of the Firmicutes staining positive for the Gram stain and being trivially called "low-GC Gram-positives" (c.f. Bacterial phyla), members of the Negativicutes stain Gram-negative and possess a double bilayer.
This transfer now appears to have been mistaken. On further examination the Selenomonads appear to be members of the Clostridia.
The etymology of the name Selenomonas comes from the Ancient Greek noun selênê (σελήνη), meaning the moon, a linking -o- and the noun monas (μόνας) which in microbiology has come to mean bacterium. The name Selenomonas simply refers to the crescent moon-shaped profile of this organism and not in any way to the chemical element selenium. The unique cell morphology of certain large selenomonads (with its in-folding of the cell membrane behind the flagella) would indicate bilateral symmetry along the long axis—an unusual property for prokaryotes.
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Wikipedia