Flavobacterium akiainvivens | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Bacteria |
Phylum: | Bacteroidota |
Class: | Flavobacteriia |
Order: | Flavobacteriales |
Family: | Flavobacteriaceae |
Genus: | Flavobacterium |
Species: | F. akiainvivens
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Binomial name | |
Flavobacterium akiainvivens |
Flavobacterium akiainvivens, or koʻohonua ʻili akia, [3] ( literally "ʻākia bark bacteria") is a species of gram-negative bacteria in the Flavobacteriaceae family. The specific epithet akiainvivens is Latin (akia in vivens) and literally means "living on or in ʻākia." [1] It was isolated originally from decaying wood of the endemic Hawai'ian shrub ʻākia ( Wikstroemia oahuensis).
Flavobacterium akiainvivens was discovered by Iris Kuo when she was just a high school student at ʻIolani School. [4] She and her coauthors determined that it shares a clade with Flavobacterium rivuli and Flavobacterium subsaxonicum. [1]
Grown on R2a agar, colonies are off-white or cream, around 2-3mm in diameter, mucoid and translucent. [1] Cells are gram-negative 0.4 by 2 µm rods. The cells are without any gliding motility [1] and the genome revealed no flagella or chemotaxis systems. [5] It is catalase-positive, oxidase-negative, and can not reduce nitrate. [1] The species expresses caseinase, lipase, and amylase, but can digest neither cellulose nor DNA. [1] It can grow both aerobically and microaerophilically but not anaerobically. [1] The primary carotenoid is zeaxanthin, but it does not have any flexirubin-type pigments. [1] The DNA G+ C content for the type strain is 44.2 mol%. [1]
In early 2013, state representative James Tokioka submitted HB 293 HD1 to establish F. akiainvivens as the state microbe of Hawaiʻi. [4] At the time, no other U.S. states had a microorganism as a state symbol. [4] However, on 29 May 2013 Oregon officially designated Saccharomyces cerevisiae as the official microbe of the state, [6] making it the first in the nation. [7] Meanwhile, the Hawaiʻian legislation was deferred for a year when it encountered competition from Senator Glenn Wakai's SB3124 proposing Aliivibrio fischeri. [3] In 2017, legislation similar to the original 2013 F. akiainvivens bill was submitted in the Hawaiʻi House of Representatives by Isaac Choy [8] and in the Hawaiʻi Senate by Brian Taniguchi. [9]
Lineage( full ) cellular organisms; Bacteria; FCB group; Bacteroidetes/Chlorobi group; Bacteroidetes; Flavobacteriia; Flavobacteriales; Flavobacteriaceae; Flavobacterium