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MyxococcalesRANK: OrderTAXONOMY: cellular organisms -> Bacteria -> Proteobacteria -> delta/epsilon subdivisions -> Deltaproteobacteria -> Myxococcales OVERVIEW: The 'myxobacteria' (''slime bacteria'') are a group of bacteria that predominantly live in the soil and feed on insoluble organic substances. The myxobacteria have very large genomes, relative to other bacteria, e.g. 9–10 million nucleotides. Sorangium cellulosum has the largest (as of 2008) bacterial genome, at 13.0 million nucleotides. Myxobacteria are included among the delta group of proteobacteria, a large taxon of Gram-negative forms. Myxobacteria can move actively by gliding. They typically travel in swarms (also known as wolf packs), containing many cells kept together by intercellular molecular signals. Individuals benefit from aggregation as it allows accumulation of the extracellular enzymes that are used to digest food; this in turn increases feeding efficiency. Myxobacteria produce a number of biomedically and industrially useful chemicals, such as antibiotics, and export those chemicals outside the cell.Synonyms : The Myxobacteria, MyxobacteriaRank: order
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