INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN
OF
BACTERIOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE
AND
TAXONOMY
Volume 9
January 15, 1959
No. 1
ON THE PRINCIPLES OF CLASSIFICATION AND
NOMENCLATURE O F ENTEROBACTERIACEAE
F. Kauffmann
F r o m Statens Seruminstitut, Copenhagen
(Director J . Grskov, M.D.)
The following abbreviated definitions a r e common i n
biology: "each distinct kindof bacterium is called a species"
and Ira genus is a group of related species.
Therefore, it
is justified to call the Salmonella group a genus and the
Salmonella sero-types species as all the established s e r o types according to the Kauffmann-White schema a r e distinct
kinds of bacteria. The definition of the llSalmonella group"
given by P. B r u c e White in 1929 begins with the words: 'IA
l a r g e genus of serologically related, Gram-negative and
non-sporing, bacilli'' and ends with the sentence: "All the
known species a r e pathogenic f o r man, animals, o r both."
In his 1st monograph together with W.G. Savage "An investigation of the Salmonella group, with special reference
to food poisoningff P. B r u c e White h a s said of the absorption
types (page 14): "They a r e elementary species par excellence." This was repeated in his 2nd monograph "Further
studies of the Salmonella groupr1 in the following sentence
(page 135): "There i s every reason to r e g a r d these as e l e mentary species, the products of definite phylogenetic events,
t h e r e i s nothing to suggest transmutability among the known
types." F u r t h e r i n his "Remarks on the Nomenclature and
Classification of B a c t e r i a " in 1936 during the 2nd Congress
of Microbiology in London, he wrote the following :
-
6.
The l e v e l and n a t u r e of t h e b a c t e r i a l genus and
species i s a m a t t e r c a l l i n g f o r consideration.
I t i s reasonably c l e a r t h a t such an accepted genus
a s Salmonella, presenting types honoured with s p e c i f i c
names, i s a c t u a l l y of t h e same o r d e r a s pneumococcus,
t r e a t e d usually a s a s i n g l e s p e c i e s enclosing numbered
o r v a r ifrom
e t i ewww.microbiologyresearch.org
s . Convenience, h i s t o r yby
, and t h e
subtypes
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INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN
c h a r a c t e r s of t h e o r g a n i s m s t h e m s e l v e s may f a v o u r
t h e d i f f e r e n c e of t r e a t m e n t but t h e f a c t remains t h a t
t h e Salmonella t y p e and t h e Pneumococcus type a r e of
e q u i v a l e n t n a t u r a l s t a t u s and a r e elementary s p e c i e s
i n t h e s e n s e of d e Vries, and t h a t S a l m o n e l l a and
Pneumococcus a r e n a t u r a l g e n e r a r o u g h l y d e f i n e d by
t h e i r R v a r i a n t s and by t h e i r b a s a l p r o t e i n s and polysaccharides.
The Committee might u s e f u l l y r e a c h a d e c i s i o n a s
t o whether t h e taxonomic s p e c i e s should be e s t a b l i s h e d
a t t h e l e v e l of t h e elementary s p e c i e s o r whether i t s
s i z e i n d i f f e r e n t c a s e s should c o n t i n u e t o be d i c t a t e d
by convenience
.
According to the recommendations of P. Bruce White, the
designations kenus for the whole group and species for the
sero-types were adopted by the Salmonella Subcommittee in
the first publication on "The genus Salmonella Lignibres,
1900,11pubiished in 1934. According to this proposal, the
Nomenclature Committee in 1936 "approved the definition
of the genus Salmonella Ligni&res a s s e t out in the report
and accepted the type-species as Salmonella cholerae-suis
(Smith) .I1
This was approved again by the 4th International Congress
of Microbiology in Copenhagen 1947 when an emended Emonella definition was given. This definition too begins with
the words: "A large genus of serologically related, G r a m negative and non- sporing bacilliv1and ends with the sentence
of P. Bruce White: I'All the known species a r e pathogenic
f o r man, animals, o r both."
A change occurred in the Report of the 5th International
Congress of Microbiology in Rio de Janeiro 1950 in which
the words genera and species a r e substituted by the words
llgroup" and lltypes.ll This was s t r e s s e d in the Report to
the 6th International Congress of Microbiology inRome 1953
in the following way:
S i n c e d i f f e r e n c e s of opinion may a r i s e i n regard
t o nomenclature, and s i n c e t h e m a j o r i t y of t h e members
of t h e Subcommittee p r e f e r s t h e terms Ifgroupstt and
lrtypesfl f o r Itgenerat1 and "speciesI1, i n s o f a r a s p o s s i b l e
o n l y common names a r e used throughout t h e r e p o r t .
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BACTERIOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE
A N D TAXONOMY
This attitude was adopted by Kauffmann in his book IIEnterobacteriaceae" and it was emphasized that the t e r m species
was applied only to biochemically defined subdivisions of
genera: "Therefore, the sero-types of Salmonella, Arizona,
Escherichia etc. a r e not to be taken a s species.11
Today, the author wants to eliminate this sentence as he
regards only the tribes and genera as biochemically defined
subdivisions of the family while the species a r e the s e r o types, according to the definition of P. Bruce White and of
the Salmonella Subcommittee. When Salmonella cholerae
suis was accepted in 1936 a s the type-species, a l l other
sero-types were regarded a s species too. These species
a r e in reality large groups which consist of a lot of fermentative types and of phage-types. Therefore, these fermentative types and the phage-types should be regarded as
subspecific entities, while the sero-types a r e species.
What is valid f o r the genus Salmonella is valid for a l l the
other genera like Escherichia in which the sero-types should
be regarded a s species too. Consequently, all Shigella
sero-types a r e regarded as species, while the sub-groups
A, B and C (= Shigella dysenteriae, Shigella flexneri and
, bioShigella boydii) a r e no species, but sub-genera,
chemically defined sub-groups . Shigelk sonnei is a species
a s it is a distinct sero-type.
In the genera Klebsiella and Cloaca the sero-types a r e
the species, while biochemically defined sub-groups a r e no
species, but sub-genera.
The same is valid for the genera Arizona, Citrobacter,
S e r r a t i a and Providencia.
The species of the genus Proteus a r e the sero-types
according to Kauffmann and Perch, while Morganella, Rettgerella and Providencia a r e not species, but biochemically
defined genera.
-
-
&.
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Table 1 .
INTERNATIONAL B ULLET I N
Family E n t e r o b a c t e r i a c e a e
Tribes
Genera
Type-Species
I. 'Salriionelleae 1. Salmonella
2. Arizona
Salmonella c h o l e r a e - s u i s
Arizona 1 ,2:1,2,5
E s c h e r i c h i a c o l i (1:1:7)
Shigella dysenteriae ' ( A l )
11. E s c h e r i c h i e a e 3. Escherichia
4. S h i g e l l a
111. K l e b s i e l l e a e 5. C i t r a b a c t e r C i t r o b a c t e r f r e u n d i i (1:1,2)
6. K l e b s i e l l a K l e b s i e l l a pneumoniae (1:l)
7. Cloaca
Cloaca.
80 Hafnia
Ha f nia
9. Erwinia
Erwinia
10. S e r r a t i a
S e r r a t ia.
-.. ...
.. .....
..... .
. ...
IV. Proteae
11 k o t e u s
12. Morganella
13 R e t t g e r e l l a
14. Providencia
Proteus h a u s e r i (I
:I)
Morganella..
Ret tgere l l a .
Providencia 1:l
.. ..
... .
In Table 1 a classification and nomenclature of Enterobacteriaceae i s "
given in which the subdivision into 4 tribes
i s based on a biochemical basis:
G lutamic a c i d
Tribes
KCN
deca rboxylase
I.
Salmonelleae
I I.
Escheric h i e a e
111. K l e b s i e l l e a e
IV.
Proteae
-
-
-
'+
+
-
+
+
-
While the genera a r e biochemically defined (see Kauff
mann: llEnterobacteriaceae'l), the species a r e the s e r o types. One of these sero-types i s regarded a s the typeSalmonella cholerae-suis in the genus Salspecies,
monella o r Arizona 1 , 2 : 1 , 2 , 5 in the genus Arizona, a
special sero-typewith t h e 0 antigens 1 , 2 and the H antigens
1, 2, 5 o r Escherichia
1 :1:7 = a special sero-type with
0 antigen Downloaded
1, K antigen
and H antigen 7.
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BACTERIOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE
A N D TAXONOMY
In t h e International Bacteriological Code of Nomenclature
(Jour. B a c t . 55:287, 1948) i t i s suggested i n Recommendation 8a (page 5 3 ) "that the t e r m s serotype (or s er ol ogi cal
type), biotype (or physiological z e ) and morphotype (or
morphological -e)
may appropriately b e substituted f o r
type a s a designation of a subdivision of a species.'! While
i t is c o r r e c t t o designate biotypes a n d m o rp hot ypes as subdivisions of a species, i t i s wrong t o r e g a r d the s er ot ypes
as subdivisions. Th e re fo re it is requested to change the
International Code of Nomenclature and t o p e r m i t the des i gnation of s e r o t y p e s as s p e c i e s .
I should like t o ask the Judicial Commission f o r a n
Opinion.
-
SUMMARY
-
T r i b e s and g e n e r a a r e biochemically defined subdivisions
of the 0
familv Enterobacteriaceae. while sDecies a r e s e r o logically defined subdivisions of the g ener a, they a r e ,
according t o P. B r u c e White, llelementary s peci es par
excellence .'I
To r e a c h a n international agreement, it i s n e c e s s a r y to
accept the above p ri n c i p l e s and t o abandon t he canception
of the s p e c i e s as a biochemically defined subdivision of t he
genus.
In c o n t r a s t t o t ri b e s , and g e n e ra which a r e biochemically
defined groups, t h e s p e c i e s a r e the s e ro- t ypes .
Thes e
ser o - t y p e s which a r e of fundamental importance f o r r api d
diagnosis in routine -work, f o r epidemiological, genetical
and chemical investigations, a r e the b a s i s f o r classification
and nomenclature.
REFERENCE6
Kauffmann, F. 1954. Enterobacteriaceae. 2nd ed. E. Munksgaard,
Copenhagen.
Salmonella Subcommittee. 1934. Jour. Hyg. &.:333.
Savage, W.G. and P. Bruce White. 1945. An i n v e s t i g a t i o n of
t h e Salmonella group, with s p e c i a l r e f e r e n c e t o food poisoning. Spec. Rep. Ser. ql, Med. Res. Council, London.
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INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN
White, P. Bruce. 1926. Further s t u d i e s of t h e Salmonella group.
Spec. Rep. Ser. 193. Med. Res. Council, London.
1929. The S a l m o n e l l a g r o u p , in "A System of Bacter i ology London.
1937. Remarks on t h e nomenclature and c l a s s i f i c a t i o n
of b a c t e r i a . Repts. Proc., Second I n t e r n a t l . Cong. f o r Microbiology, LonQn, page 547.
1937. Z e n t r . B a k t e r i o l . 11, 9&145.
. .
-.
--
-.
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