Phylogenetic Analysis of Evolutionary Relationships of the Planctomycete Division of the Domain Bacteria Based on Amino Acid Sequences of Elongation Factor Tu

Sequences from the tuf gene coding for the elongation factor EF-Tu were amplified and sequenced from the genomic DNA of Pirellula marina and Isosphaera pallida, two species of bacteria within the order Planctomycetales. A near-complete (1140-bp) sequence was obtained from Pi. marina and a partial (759-bp) sequence was obtained for I. pallida. Alignment of the deduced Pi. marina EF-Tu amino acid sequence against reference sequences demonstrated the presence of a unique 11-amino acid sequence motif not present in any other division of the domain Bacteria. Pi. marina shared the highest percentage amino acid sequence identity with I. pallida but showed only a low percentage identity with other members of the domain Bacteria. This is consistent with the concept of the planctomycetes as a unique division of the Bacteria. Neither primary sequence comparison of EF-Tu nor phylogenetic analysis supports any close relationship between planctomycetes and the chlamydiae, which has previously been postulated on the basis of 16S rRNA. Phylogenetic analysis of aligned EF-Tu amino acid sequences performed using distance, maximum-parsimony, and maximum-likelihood approaches yielded contradictory results with respect to the position of planctomycetes relative to other bacteria. It is hypothesized that long-branch attraction effects due to unequal evolutionary rates and mutational saturation effects may account for some of the contradictions. Received: 21 August 2000 / Accepted: 8 January 2001