science

Verrucomicrobiota

Verrucomicrobiota is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Verrucomicrobiota rather than just read about it. In short: Verrucomicrobiota is a phylum of Gram-negative bacteria that contains only a few described species. The species identified have been isolated from fresh water, marine and soil environments and human faeces.

Key takeaways

Verrucomicrobiota belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Verrucomicrobiota to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Verrucomicrobiota from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Verrucomicrobiota is a phylum of Gram-negative bacteria that contains only a few described species. The species identified have been isolated from fresh water, marine and soil environments and human faeces. A number of as-yet uncultivated species have been identified in association with eukaryotic hosts including extrusive explosive ectosymbionts of protists and endosymbionts of nematodes from genus Xiphinema, residing in their gametes. The verrucomicrobial bacterium Akkermansia muciniphila is a human intestinal symbiotic bacterium that is considered as a promising probiotic. Verrucomicrobiota are abundant within the environment, though relatively inactive. This phylum is considered to have two sister phyla: Chlamydiota (formerly Chlamydiae) and Lentisphaerota (formerly Lentisphaerae) within the PVC superphylum. The Verrucomicrobiota phylum can be distinguished from neighbouring phyla within the PVC group by the presence of several conserved signature indels (CSIs). These CSIs represent unique, synapomorphic characteristics that suggest common ancestry within Verrucomicrobiota and an independent lineage amidst other bacteria. CSIs have also been found that are shared by Verrucomicrobiota and Chlamydiota exclusively of all other bacteria. These CSIs provide evidence that Chlamydiota is the closest relative to Verrucomicrobiota, and that they are more closely related to one another than to the Planctomycetales. Verrucomicrobiota might belong in the clade Planctobacteria in the larger clade Gracilicutes. In 2008, the whole genome of Methylacidiphilum infernorum (2.3 Mbp) was published. On the single circular chromosome, 2473 predicted proteins were found, 731 of which had no detectable homologs. These analyses also revealed many possible homologies with Pseudomonadota.

Phylogeny

Taxonomy The currently accepted taxonomy is based on the List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature (LPSN) and National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).

Genus ?"Ca. Epixenosoma" Bauer et al. 2005 Genus ?"Ca. Nucleicoccus" corrig. Sato et al. 2014 Genus ?"Ca. Organicella" Williams et al. 2021 Genus ?"Ca. Rhizospheria" Nunes da Rocha 2010 Class Opitutia corrig. Choo et al. 2007 Order Opitutales Choo et al. 2007 Family Alterococcaceae Min et al. 2023 Family Cerasicoccaceae Min et al. 2023 Family Coraliomargaritaceae Min et al. 20232 Family Intestinicryptomonadaceae corrig. Hitch et al. 2025 ["Merdousiaceae" Pallen, Rodriguez-R & Alikhan 2022] Family "Moanibacteraceae" Pallen, Rodriguez-R & Alikhan 2022 [UBA2987] Family Oceanipulchritudinaceae Min et al. 2023 Family Opitutaceae Choo et al. 2007 Family Pelagicoccaceae Min et al. 2023 Family Puniceicoccaceae Choo et al. 2007 Family "Seribacteraceae" Wilkie & Olrellana 2024 ["Fogupanaceae" Pallen, Rodriguez-R & Alikhan 2022] Family "Spyradosomataceae" Pallen, Rodriguez-R & Alikhan 2022 [UBA953] Class Verrucomicrobiia corrig. Hedlund, Gosink & Staley 1998 ["Methylacidiphilae"; "Pedosphaerae" Brewer et al. 2016; Terrimicrobiia corrig. García-López et al. 2020] Order Limisphaerales Podosokorskaya et al. 2023 ["Pedosphaerales"] Family Fontisphaeraceae Podosokorskaya et al. 2023 Family Limisphaeraceae Podosokorskaya et al. 2023 Family "Pedosphaeraceae" ?Tsitko et al. 2014 Order Methylacidiphilales Awala et al. 2023 Family Methylacidiphilaceae Awala et al. 2023 Order Terrimicrobiales García-López et al. 2020 ["Chthoniobacterales" Sangwan et al. 2004] Family "Chthoniobacteraceae" Sangwan et al. 2004 Family Terrimicrobiaceae García-López et al. 2020 Family "Udaeobacteraceae" Pallen, Rodriguez-R & Alikhan 2022 [UBA10450] Family "Xiphinematobacteraceae" Order Verrucomicrobiales Ward-Rainey et al. 1996 Family Akkermansiaceae Hedlund & Derrien 2012 [Rubritaleaceae Hedlund 2012] Family "Sulfuriroseicoccus" Feng et al. 2022 {SLCJ01} Family Verrucomicrobiaceae Ward-Rainey et al. 1996

See also List of bacterial orders List of bacteria genera

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Verrucomicrobiota

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Verrucomicrobiota claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Verrucomicrobiota before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Verrucomicrobiota ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Verrucomicrobiota

In research: Verrucomicrobiota appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Verrucomicrobiota in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Verrucomicrobiota is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Bacteria phyla, Verrucomicrobiota, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Verrucomicrobiota outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Verrucomicrobiota in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Verrucomicrobiota means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Verrucomicrobiota out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Verrucomicrobiota in simple terms?

Why does Verrucomicrobiota matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Verrucomicrobiota?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Verrucomicrobiota.