A family of rod-shaped bacteria that includes the genus Bacillus; bacteria with specific structural and genetic characteristics.
From bacillus plus -aceae (Latin plural suffix used in scientific taxonomy for families of organisms). The -aceae ending indicates a family classification in botanical and biological nomenclature.
Bacillaceae is where Bacillus anthracis lives—the bacterium that causes anthrax and was Robert Koch's proof that a specific microbe causes a specific disease, literally inventing microbiology and changing medicine forever just by identifying one family of rods.
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