Alteromonas is a genus of Pseudomonadota[1] found in sea water, either in the open ocean or in the coast. It is Gram-negative. Its cells are curved rods with a single polar flagellum.
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The etymology of the genus is Latin alter -tera -terum, another, different; monas (μονάς), a noun with a special meaning in microbiology used to mean unicellular organism; to give Alteromonas, another monad[2]
Members of the genus Alteromonas can be referred to as alteromonads (viz. Trivialisation of names).
The genus was described by Baumann et al. in 1972,[3] but was emended by Novick and Tyler 1985 to accommodate Alteromonas luteoviolacea (now Pseudoalteromonas luteoviolacea),[4] Gauthier et al. 1995, who split the genus in two (Pseudoalteromonas)[5] and Van Trappen et al. in 2004 to accommodate Alteromonas stellipolaris.[6]
"Alteromonas-like sub-group" has been identified by microbial culture, metagenomics, and FISH-probe microscopy in the typhlosole sub-organ of the shipworm cecum as a symbiont digesting lignin.[7]
The genus contains eight species (but 21 basonyms), namely[2]
- A. addita (Ivanova et al. 2005, added, joined to the genus)
- A. genovensis ( Vandecandelaere et al. 2008, genovensis, pertaining to Genova (Genoa), Italy, where the seawater electroactive biofilms originated)[8]
- A. hispanica ( Martínez-Checa et 'al. 2005, hispanica, Spanish)
- A. litorea ( Yoon et al.. 2004, litorea, of the shore)
- A. macleodii ( Baumann et al. 1972 (type species of the genus, named after R.A. MacLeod, a Canadian microbiologist who pioneered studies on the biochemical bases of the Na+ requirement of marine bacteria)[8]
- A. marina ( Yoon et al.. 2003, marina, of the sea, marine)
- A. simiduii ( Chiu et al.. 2007, named after Usio Simidu, a Japanese microbiologist, for his work on marine microbiology)[9]
- A. stellipolaris ( Van Trappen et al.. 2004, stella, star; polaris, polar, referring to the Polarstern (AWI, Bremerhaven), the name of the vessel that was used to collect the sample from which the organisms were isolated)[10]
- A. tagae ( Chiu et al.. 2007, named after Nobuo Taga, a pioneering Japanese marine microbiologist)[9]
Many alteromonads were reclassified as members of Pseudoalteromonas in 1995[5]
- P. atlantica (Akagawa-Matsushita et al.. 1992, atlantica, pertaining to the Atlantic Ocean)[11]
- P. aurantia (Gauthier and Breittmayer 1979, aurantia, orange-colored)[12]
- P. carrageenovora (Akagawa-Matsushita et al.. 1992, carrageenum, named for carrageenan; vorare, to devour - carrageenan decomposing)[11]
- P. citrea (Gauthier 1977, citrea, of or pertaining to the citrus-tree, intended to mean lemon-yellow)[12]
- P. denitrificans (Enger et al.. 1987, denitrificans, denitrifying)[13]
- P. distincta (Romanenko et al. 1995, distincta, separate, distinct)[14]
- P. elyakovii (Ivanova et al.. 1997, named after G.B. Elyakov for his work in microbial biotechnology)[15]
- P. espejiana (Chan et al.. 1978, named after Espejo, a Chilean microbiologist who isolated one of the first lipid-containing bacteriophages)[12]
- P. fuliginea (Romanenko et al.. 1995, fuliginea, like soot, sooty)[14]
- P. haloplanktis ((ZoBell and Upham 1944) Reichelt and Baumann 1973, hals halos, sea; planktos -ê -on, wandering, roaming, sea-wandering)[12]
- P. luteoviolacea ((ex Gauthier 1976) Gauthier 1982, luteus, yellow; violaceus - violet-colored; luteoviolacea, yellow-violet)[16]
- P. nigrifaciens ((ex White 1940) Baumann et al. 1984, Niger, black; facio, to make to give nigrifaciens, making black)[17]
- P. rubra (Gauthier 1976, rubra, red)[12]
- P. tetraodonis (Simidu et al.. 1990, tetraodonis, of Tetraodon, a genus of plectognathic fishes [Tetraodontidae])[18]
- P. undina (Chan et al.. 1978, undina, undine, water nymph)[12]
Other former alteromonads:
- Marinomonas communis (Baumann et al.. 1972, communis, common)[12]
- Marinomonas vaga (Baumann et al.. 1972, vaga, wandering)[12]
- Shewanella colwelliana (Weiner et al.. 1988, named after Rita Colwell for her contributions to marine microbiology)[19]
- Shewanella hanedai (Jensen et al.. 1981, named after Y. Haneda, a Japanese biologist who pioneered studies on bioluminescence)[20]
- Shewanella putrefaciens ((ex Derby and Hammer 1931) Lee et al.. 1981, putrefaciens, making rotten, putrefying)[21]
Jensen, M. J.; Tebo, B. M.; Baumann, P.; Mandel, M.; Nealson, K. H. (1980). "Characterization ofAlteromonas hanedai (sp. Nov.), a nonfermentative luminous species of marine origin". Current Microbiology. 3 (5): 311–315. doi:10.1007/BF02601812.