Alphaproteobacteria - Evolution and Genomics

Evolution and Genomics

The Class Alphaproteobacteria comprises ten orders (viz. Magnetococcales, Rhodobacterales, Rhodospirillales, Rickettsiales, Sphingomonadales, Caulobacterales, Kiloniellales, Kordiimonadales, Parvularculales and Sneathiellales)., In phylogenetic trees based upon concatenated sequences for large datasets of proteins, the species from these orders whose genomes have been sequenced branch in the following order from earliest branching to most recent: Magnetococcales-Rickettsiales-Rhodospirillales-Sphingomonadales-Rhodobacterales-(Caulobacterales-Parvularculales)- Rhizobiales.,,. Comparative analyses of the sequenced genomes have also led to discovery of many conserved indels in widely distributed proteins and whole proteins (i.e. signature proteins) that are that are distinctive characteristics of either all Alphaproteobacteria, or their different main orders (viz. Rhizobiales, Rhodobacterales, Rhodospirillales, Rickettsiales, Sphingomonadales and Caulobacterales) and families (viz. Rickettsiaceae, Anaplasmataceae, Rhodospirillaceae, Acetobacteraceae, Bradyrhiozobiaceae, Brucellaceae and Bartonellaceae). These molecular signatures provide novel means for the circumscription of these taxonomic groups and for identification/assignment of new species into these groups., Phylogenetic analyses and conserved indels in large numbers of other proteins provide evidence that Alphaproteobacteria have branched off later than most other phyla and Classes of Bacteria except Betaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria.,