Chloroflexi (phylum)

Chloroflexi (phylum)

The Chloroflexi or Chlorobacteria, known colloquially as Green non-sulfur bacteria, are a phylum of bacteria containing isolates with a diversity of phenotypes including members that are aerobic thermophiles, which use oxygen and grow well in high temperatures, anoxygenic phototrophs, which use light for photosynthesis, and anaerobic halorespirers, which uses halogenated organics (such as the toxic chlorinated ethenes and polychlorinated biphenyls) as energy sources.

Whereas most Bacteria, in terms of diversity, are diderms and stain Gram negative with the exception of the Firmicutes (low CG Gram positives), Actinobacteria (high CG gram positives) and the Deinococcus-Thermus group (Gram positive, but diderms with thick peptidoglycan), the members of the phylum Chloroflexi are monoderms and stain mostly Gram negative.