We prepared hybrids between 14C-labeled ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) from either Chromobacterium violaceum NCTC 9757 or Chromobacterium lividum NCTC 9796 and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) from a great variety of named gram-negative bacteria, including many type and reference strains. Each hybrid was described by two parameters: (i) Tm(e), the temperature at which 50% of the hybrid was denatured; (ii) the percent rRNA binding, the amount (micrograms) of [14C]rRNA duplexed in stringent conditions per 100 μg of filter-fixed homologous or heterologous DNA. Each taxon occupied a definite area on the rRNA similarity maps. All C. lividum and C. violaceum strains formed tight separate clusters around their neotype strains. The rRNA parameters of both taxa were about as different from each other as was the case for many genera. Both taxa are phenotypically and genotypically (by DNA-DNA hybridization) likewise very different. We proposed to elevate each cluster to genus rank as C. violaceum and Janthinobacterium lividum. The following strains were misnamed and belonged in neither genus: “C. lividum” = “C.” folium NCTC 10590 and 10591; “C. lividum” GA; “C.” marismortui ATCC 17056; “Pseudomonas” (“Chromobacterium”) iodinum ATCC 9897, 15728, and 15729; “C.” indicum-rubrum (now Serratia marcescens) NCTC 2847; and “C.” viscosum (now Corynebacterium sp.) NCTC 2416. The rRNA cistrons of Chromobacterium and Janthinobacterium resembled most closely those of Pseudomonas section II and III, the authentic Alcaligenes, Bordetella bronchiseptica, the H2-oxidizing Alcaligenes eutrophus and Alcaligenes paradoxus, and Comamonas percolans NCIB 8193. These taxa displayed a number of phenotypical similarities. We suggested that all these taxa are the closest taxonomic relatives of Chromobacterium and Janthinobacterium.
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