Shimkets L, Woese C R
Department of Microbiology, University of Georgia, Athens 30602.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1992 Oct 15;89(20):9459-63. doi: 10.1073/pnas.89.20.9459.
The primary sequence and secondary structural features of the 16S rRNA were compared for 12 different myxobacteria representing all the known cultivated genera. Analysis of these data show the myxobacteria to form a monophyletic grouping consisting of three distinct families, which lies within the delta subdivision of the purple bacterial phylum. The composition of the families is consistent with differences in cell and spore morphology, cell behavior, and pigment and secondary metabolite production but is not correlated with the morphological complexity of the fruiting bodies. The Nannocystis exedens lineage has evolved at an unusually rapid pace and its rRNA shows numerous primary and secondary structural idiosyncrasies.
