The genus contains the type species B. cepacia (Yabuuchi et al., 1993). The species from this genus are gram-negative, straight or slightly curved rods, which exhibit motility mediated by one or more polar flagella. Only, B. mallei lacks flagella and is non-motile. The species do not produce sheaths or prosthecae and do not go through any resting stages. Most species are able to accumulate and utilize poly-β-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) for growth. The species are mostly aerobic chemoorganotrophs, but some species are capable of anaerobic respiration using nitrate as the terminal electron acceptor. The G+C content for the members of the genus ranges from 65.7 to 68.5%. The members of the genus form a distinct monophyletic clade in phylogenetic trees, and they are distinguished from all other bacteria by the conserved sequence indels reported in this work in the following proteins: Periplasmic amino acid-binding protein, 4-hydroxybenzoate 3-monooxygenase, 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase, Sarcosine oxidase subunit alpha, a putative lipoprotein, and a putative lyase (Table 2).