PVC superphylum

The PVC superphylum is a superphylum of bacteria named after its three important members, Planctomycetota, Verrucomicrobiota, and Chlamydiota. Cavalier-Smith postulated that the PVC bacteria probably lost or reduced their peptidoglycan cell wall twice. It has been hypothesised that a member of the PVC clade might have been the host cell in the endosymbiotic event that gave rise to the first proto-eukaryotic cell.

Cavalier-Smith calls the same group Planctobacteria and considers it a phylum. However, this is not followed by the larger scientific community. In the Cavalier-Smith bacterial megaclassification, it is within the bacterial Gracilicutes infra-kingdom and comprises the phyla Chlamydiota, Lentisphaerota, Planctomycetota, Verrucomicrobiota.