Bacillus

What you should know:

Bacillus is a genus of endosporing Gram-positive rods with a regular shape. They are often isolated from soils, but some strains inhabit human skin. They are chemoheterotrophs and ferment sugars to lactic acid. Some strains are pathogenic, including B. anthracis (anthrax) and B. cereus (gastroenteritis). Some strains of Bacillus produce antibiotics.

Classification: 

Domain Bacteria

    Phylum Firmicutes

        Class Bacilli

Bergey's Manual Volume 3: The low G+C Gram-positive Bacteria

Type species

Bacillus subtilis

Facultative anaerobe, respiratory and fermentative metabolism, oxidase-negative, catalase-positive, amylase-positive, casease-positive, DNAse-negative, H2S-negative, indole-negative, motile

Bacillus cereus

Casease-negative, DNAse-positive

Bacillus mycoides

Links

• Bacillus sphaericus - 135 million year old spores extracted from a bee trapped in amber
• Bacillus mycoides - colonies with genetically determined whirls
• Bacillus anthracis