Azomonas

Azomonas
Azmonas under 100x oil immersion
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Bacteria
Phylum:	Proteobacteria
Class:	Gammaproteobacteria
Order:	Pseudomonadales
Family:	Pseudomonadaceae/Azotobacteraceae
Genus:	Azomonas Winogradsky, 1938
Species
Azomonas agilis Azomonas insignis Azomonas macrocytogenes

Azomonas species are typically motile, oval to spherical, and secrete large quantities of capsular slime. They are distinguished from Azotobacter by their inability to form cysts, but like Azotobacter, they can biologically fix nitrogen under aerobic conditions (diazotrophs).

Bacteria of the genus Azomonas are known to form intracellular inclusions of polyhydroxyalkanoates under certain environmental conditions (e.g. lack of elements such as phosphorus, nitrogen, or oxygen combined with an excessive supply of carbon sources).

Etymology

The name Azomonas derives from:

New Latin noun azotum [from Fr. noun azote (from Greek prep. ά, a, not; Greek noun ζωη, zōē, life; N.Greek noun άζωη, azōē, not sustaining life)], nitrogen; New Latin pref. azo-, pertaining to nitrogen; Latin feminine gender noun monas (μονάς / μονάδα), nominally meaning "a unit", but in effect meaning a bacterium; New Latin feminine gender noun Azomonas, nitrogen monad.^[1]

Members of the genus Azomonas can be referred to as azomonads (viz. Trivialisation of names).

References

1. Azomonas entry in LPSN [Euzéby, J.P. (1997). "List of Bacterial Names with Standing in Nomenclature: a folder available on the Internet". Int J Syst Bacteriol 47 (2): 590–2. doi:10.1099/00207713-47-2-590. ISSN 0020-7713. PMID 9103655.]