Alteromonas is a genus of Pseudomonadota[1] found in sea water, either in the open ocean or in the coast. It is Gram-negative. Its cells are curved rods with a single polar flagellum.
The etymology of the genus is Latin alter -tera -terum, another, different; monas (μονάς), a noun with a special meaning in microbiology used to mean unicellular organism; to give Alteromonas, another monad[2]
Members of the genus Alteromonas can be referred to as alteromonads (viz. Trivialisation of names).
The genus was described by Baumann et al. in 1972,[3] but was emended by Novick and Tyler 1985 to accommodate Alteromonas luteoviolacea (now Pseudoalteromonas luteoviolacea),[4] Gauthier et al. 1995, who split the genus in two (Pseudoalteromonas)[5] and Van Trappen et al. in 2004 to accommodate Alteromonas stellipolaris.[6]
The genus contains eight species (but 21 basonyms), namely[2]
Many alteromonads were reclassified as members of Pseudoalteromonas in 1995[5]
Other former alteromonads:
Alteromonas is a genus of Pseudomonadota found in sea water, either in the open ocean or in the coast. It is Gram-negative. Its cells are curved rods with a single polar flagellum.