Acidobacteria

The phylum acidobacteria is distributed across nearly all ecosystems. Acidobacteria are particularly abundant in acidic soils, peatlands and environments with rich iron minerals.^[1][2]  Most acidobacteria prefer acidic conditions (pH3.0-6.5) for growth,^[1] but multiple members also live in alkaline soils.^[3]

The characteristics of acidobacteria are gram-negative (gram staining negative), non-spore-forming and with multiple shapes. In most cases, they reproduce through binary fission (separate a body into two new parts). Most acidobacteria get energy from chemical substances (chemoheterotrophs), but some get it from light.^[2]

Due to the most acidobacteria's capacity to live with a low level of nutrients, acidobacteria are hard to culture on the conventional growth media in the laboratory. Hence, they were underrepresented until gene analysis in recent decades.^[1] Currently, acidobacteria have 26 subdivisions based on the results of DNA analysis.^[4]

Acidobacteria has a large proportion of the genes encoding proteins that can transport nutrients from the environment into cells, which facilitates acidobacteria to acquire a wide range of nutrients, helping them to survive in nutrient-poor environments.^[1]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Kalam, Sadaf; Basu, Anirban; Ahmad, Iqbal; Sayyed, R. Z.; El-Enshasy, Hesham Ali; Dailin, Daniel Joe; Suriani, Ni Luh (2020). "Recent Understanding of Soil Acidobacteria and Their Ecological Significance: A Critical Review". Frontiers in Microbiology. 11: 580024. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2020.580024. ISSN 1664-302X. PMC 7661733. PMID 33193209.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Dedysh, Svetlana N.; Sinninghe Damsté, Jaap S. (22 January 2018). [10.1002/9780470015902.a0027685 "Acidobacteria"]. eLS: 1–10. doi:10.1002/9780470015902.a0027685. ISBN 9780470016176. {{cite journal}}: Check |url= value (help)
3. ↑ Cite error: The named reference :2 was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).
4. ↑ Barns, Susan M.; Cain, Elizabeth C.; Sommerville, Leslie; Kuske, Cheryl R. (May 2007). "Acidobacteria Phylum Sequences in Uranium-Contaminated Subsurface Sediments Greatly Expand the Known Diversity within the Phylum". Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 73 (9): 3113–3116. doi:10.1128/AEM.02012-06. ISSN 0099-2240. PMC 1892891. PMID 17337544.