Encyclopedia > Firmicutes

  Article Content

Firmicutes

The Firmicutes are a group of bacteria, most of which have Gram-positive stains. A few, called mycoplasmas, lack cell walls altogether and so do not respond to Gram staining, but still lack the second membrane found in other Gram-negative forms. Originally the Firmicutes were taken to include all Gram-positive bacteria, but more recently they tend to be restricted to a core group of related forms, called the low G+C group in contrast to the actinobacteria.

Many Firmicutes produce endospores, which are resistant to dessication and can survive extreme conditions. They are found in various environments, and some notable pathogens. Members may be aerobic or anaerobic and those in one family, the heliobacteria[?], produce food through photosynthesis.

Notable genera of Firmicutes include:



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
Ocean Beach, New York

... are made up of individuals and 4.9% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.26 and the average family size is ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 41 ms