Contribution in an anthology

Appeared in: Bergey's Manual of Systematics of Archaea and Bacteria

Editor list: Whitman, WB

Publication year: 2015

eISBN: 978-1-118-96060-8

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118960608.gbm00149

Abstract: 

Pi.li.mel'i.a. L. n. pilus a hair; Gr. fem. n. melia Melia, a nymph loved by the river god Inachus; N.L. fem. n. Pilimelia an aquatic organism growing on hair substrate.

Actinobacteria / Actinobacteria / Micromonosporales / Micromonosporaceae / Pilimelia

Members of the genus produce substrate mycelium. Hyphae are Gram-stain-positive, 0.2–0.8 µm in diameter, branched, and septate. True aerial mycelium is not developed. Sporangia are produced on the surface of the substrate on sporangiophores. The shape of sporangia is spherical, ovoid, pyriform, campanulate, or cylindrical, approximately 10–15 µm in size. Sporangia contain numerous spores in chains that are arranged in parallel or irregularly in swirl-like rows. Spores (zoospores) are rod-shaped (0.4 × 1.2 µm) and motile by means of a laterally inserted tuft of flagella. Nonmotile spores develop in free chains arranged similarly to the zoospores. Colonies grow only on complex media and are small, compact, soft, pasty, or solid. Color of substrate mycelium is pale lemon-yellow, golden yellow, orange, or pale, turning brown to dark with age. Aerobic and chemo-organotrophic. Optimal growth is at pH 6.5–7.5 and 20–30°C (minimum 10°C, maximum 38°C). Strains decompose keratinic substances (e.g. hair of mammals). The peptidoglycan of the cell walls contains meso-diaminopimelic acid (meso-DAP) and glycine, with xylose and arabinose as characteristic sugars of whole-cell hydrolysates.

DNA G+C content (mol%): 71 (Miyadoh et al., 2001).

Type species: Pilimelia terevesa Kane 1966, 225^AL.

Harvard Citation style: Vobis, G. and Kämpfer, P. (2015) Pilimelia, in Whitman, W. (ed.) Bergey's Manual of Systematics of Archaea and Bacteria. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118960608.gbm00149

APA Citation style: Vobis, G., & Kämpfer, P. (2015). Pilimelia. In Whitman, W. (Ed.), Bergey's Manual of Systematics of Archaea and Bacteria. Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118960608.gbm00149