Joachim Wink
Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Germany
Title: Biology of Myxobacteria – An Underestimated Group of Antibiotic Producing Bacteria
Biography
Biography: Joachim Wink
Abstract
The Myxobacteria with the order Myxococcales (TCHAN, POCHON and PRÉVOT 1948) belong to the Gram negative Proteobacteria and have first been described in detail by Thaxter in 1892 in the Botanical Gazette. Most known Myxobacteria, occur in soil and frequently develop on decomposing plant material, the bark of living trees or animal dung. Both in nature and in the laboratory their presence may be detected through the appearance of fruiting bodies. Since the introduction of Epotilon as anticancer therapeutic on the market, the Myxobacteria have their place in the group of industrial important bacteria. The biology of Myxobacteria is mainly characterized by two features that are the gliding on surfaces without any locomotion organelles and the formation of fruiting bodies. Myxobacteria also have a high GC contend and very huge genomes with a size of about 10 Mb which correlates with their ability to produce many different secondary metabolites. Until today the taxonomy of the Myxobacteria is basing on the morphological features together with the 16S rRNA sequence, in addition we have established a number of chemotaxonomic and molecular biological markers which can be used in myxobacterial taxonomy. A short overview on the history of Myxobacteria, the fruiting body formation, its taxonomic classification and additional methods for characterization is given in this talk.
