Planococcus is a genus of Gram-Positive or Gram-variable, cocci or short rod-shaped bacteria in the family Caryophanaceae from the order Caryophanales.
[1] The family Caryophanaceae encompassed many branching anomalies such as this one, partially due to the reliance on 16S rRNA sequences as a method for classification, which is known to have low resolution power and give differing results depending on the algorithm used.
[1] The name Planococcus is derived from the Greek noun planes, translating into "a wanderer" and the Latin term coccus.
[1] Cells exhibit Gram-positive or Gram-variable staining and they are cocci or short rods and generally motile.
[1] These molecular signatures provide a reliable method for differentiating Planococcus species from other genera within the family Caryophanaceae and all other bacteria.