The Phylogeny of the Green Photosynthetic Bacteria: Absence of a Close Relationship Between Chlorobium and Chloroflexus

Abstract

Summary Ribosmal RNA oligonucleotide cataloging has been used to explore the phylogenetic relationships among the following green photosynthetic bacteria and their relatives: Chlorobium vibrioforme, C. limicola, Prosthecochloris aestuarii, Chloroherpeton thalassium, Chloroflexus aurantiacus, Herpetosiphon aurantiacus, H. strain Senghas and Thermomicrobium roseum . The first four species form a coherent, moderately tight phylogenetic grouping, the last four a coherent, but looser grouping. No evidence exists for a specific relationship between these two groupings, however. Each can be considered to represent a eubacterial “phylum”.