title: Beyond the bacterium: planctomycetes challenge our concepts of microbial structure and function.
abstract: Planctomycetes form a distinct phylum of the domain Bacteria and possess unusual features such as intracellular compartmentalization and a lack of peptidoglycan in their cell walls. Remarkably, cells of the genus Gemmata even contain a membrane-bound nucleoid analogous to the eukaryotic nucleus. Moreover, the so-called 'anammox' planctomycetes have a unique anaerobic, autotrophic metabolism that includes the ability to oxidize ammonium; this process is dependent on a characteristic membrane-bound cell compartment called the anammoxosome, which might be a functional analogue of the eukaryotic mitochondrion. The compartmentalization of planctomycetes challenges our hypotheses regarding the origins of eukaryotic organelles. Furthermore, the recent discovery of both an endocytosis-like ability and proteins homologous to eukaryotic clathrin in a planctomycete marks this phylum as one to watch for future research on the origin and evolution of the eukaryotic cell.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia. j.fuerst@uq.edu.au
authors.forename: John A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Fuerst
authors.forename: Evgeny
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sagulenko
mesh_terms: D000693:Anaerobiosis; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D002451:Cell Compartmentation / Q000502:physiology; D004705:Endocytosis / Q000502:physiology; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D015388:Organelles / Q000502:physiology; D010802:Phylogeny
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins