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Molecular genetic evidence for early evolutionary origin of budding peptidoglycan-less eubacteria

Nature volume 307, pages 735–737 (1984)Cite this article

Abstract

Recent studies on the cell wall composition of budding, non-prosthecate bacteria have shown that representatives of the genera Planctomyces and Pasteuria (sensu Staley, 1973) lack the peptidoglycan moiety1, which is the characteristic feature of eubacterial cell walls2,3, but possess an as yet unidentified protein sheet instead; in this respect Planctomyces and Pasteuria strains resemble certain archaebacteria more than eubacteria3,4. To determine their phylogenetic positions, the 16S ribosomal RNAs of three budding, peptidoglycan-less strains with and without stalks were subjected to partial sequence analyses. As we report here, the comparison of data with those obtained from about 320 eubacterial and 40 archaebacterial strains revealed that the strains investigated are not members of the archaebacterial kingdom but represent an ancient line of descent of the eubacterial kingdom. Furthermore the diphtheria toxin reaction5 of Planctomyces and Pasteuria shows that they behave like eubacteria.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lehrstuhl für Mikrobiologie, Technische Universität München, Arcisstrasse 16, D-8000, München, 2, FRG

    Erko Stackebrandt & Wolfgang Ludwig

  2. Lehrstuhl für Organische Chemie I, Technische Universität München, Lichtenbergstrasse 4, D-8046, Garching, FRG

    Wolfgang Schubert

  3. Biochemisches Institut, Medizinische Fakultät der Universität Kiel, Olshausenstrasse 40-60, D-2300, Kiel, FRG

    Friedrich Klink

  4. Institut für Allgemeine Mikrobiologie der Universität Kiel, Olshausenstrasse 40-60, D-2300, Kiel, FRG

    Heinz Schlesner, Telse Roggentin & Peter Hirsch

Authors
  1. Erko Stackebrandt
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  2. Wolfgang Ludwig
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  4. Heinz Schlesner
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  5. Telse Roggentin
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  6. Peter Hirsch
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Stackebrandt, E., Ludwig, W., Schubert, W. et al. Molecular genetic evidence for early evolutionary origin of budding peptidoglycan-less eubacteria. Nature 307, 735–737 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1038/307735a0

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