- Volume 30, Issue 4, 1980

DNA homology studies were performed with strains of Legionella pneumophila Brenner et al., 1979, including the type strain, ATCC 33152, and a group of seven previously unclassified bacteria which resemble L. pneumophila in growth characteristics and colonial morphology and by their content of large amounts of branched-chain fatty acids. The organisms studied include three isolates of the Pittsburgh pneumonia agent (PPA), TATLOCK, WIGA (ALLO1), MI-15 (ALLO2), and NY-23 (ALLO4). The purified DNAs were labeled with 32P in vitro by a nick translation method, which made it possible to achieve very high specific activities. Results of our hybridization experiments suggest that these previously unclassified organisms are not related to L. pneumophila at the genus level, and thus two new genera within the family Legionellaceae are proposed for them: Tatlockia and Fluoribacter. The type species of these genera are T. micdadei (Hebert et al., 1980) comb. nov. and F. bozemanae sp. nov., respectively. The type strain of T. micdadei is strain TATLOCK (= ATCC 33218), and the type strain of F. bozemanae is strain WIGA (= ATCC 33217).

Summarizing and editing binary phenetic data before further analysis are an accepted practice. The microbiologist tabulates basic information about a strain by feature matrix and uses this information as an aid in editing that matrix. Interactive computer technology can be used to aid in this process. Advantages of such computer-aided matrix editing include (i) preliminary analysis of the data, (ii) automation of routine operations, (iii) reduced costs of subsequent analyses, and (iv) improved results of subsequent analyses. The reduced costs and improved results are demonstrated by running a cluster analysis program on data before and after editing.

The logic of modifications to numerical taxonomy programs is described. The programs modified are to calculate and store interstrain similarities, to arrange the data by cluster analysis, and to calculate inter- and intragroup statistics. The modifications included increasing the efficiency of the similarity calculations, storing intermediate matrices on disks for later use, and permitting the calculation of group statistics on any arbitrary groups of strains as well as taxonomic groups without recalculating interstrain similarities. Changing communication paths of information allowed using the programs flexibly for ecological as well as taxonomic analyses, reduced program execution costs, increased program versatility, and reduced errors.

Fifty strains of red-pigmented, gram-positive, nonfermentative micrococci were studied, including organisms from diverse collections identified as Micrococcus roseus, M. agilis, “Sarcina erythromyxa,” “M. radiodurans,” “M. radiophilus,” and “M. radioproteolyticus” and miscellaneous unidentified strains usually labelled M. roseus (names in quotation marks are not on the Approved Lists of Bacterial Names, Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 30:225-420, 1980). Although similar in physiological attributes (negative characters predominated), the cell wall structural profiles separated M. roseus and M. agilis (simple homogeneous profile) from “M. radiodurans” and the radiation-resistant group (complex, multilayered profile). Simple reactions (growth in 5% NaCl broth, growth at 37°C, and nitrate reduction) distinguished M. roseus from M. agilis, and acid production from glucose and other sugars distinguished “M. radioproteolyticus” from the rest. The members of the “M. radiodurans” group could be typified by physiological reactions but not with great reliability. Gas-liquid chromatography of extracted lipids showed that veritable M. roseus and M. agilis strains had at least 50% of fatty acids in the form of 15:0 branched chains. “M. radiodurans” and the rest had straight chains with a 16:1 component which formed at least 25% of total fatty acids and which was not possessed by M. roseus or M. agilis. Further studies were based on representative strains of clusters derived from the above-mentioned tests. Zymograms for nonspecific esterases and chromatograms of extracted pigments showed no identical patterns for any 2 of 10 strains. Absorption spectra for pigments had maxima at 450 to 510 nm. The guanine plus cytosine contents of the deoxyribonucleic acids ranged from 62 to 74 mol%: The M. roseus-M. agilis cluster was <69 mol%, and the radiation-resistant cluster was < 71 mol%. There was little deoxyribonucleic acid homology between M. roseus and M. agilis (8%) or among any of the rest (< 21%). The named radiation-resistant species showed <18% homology to each other, but alignments were detected in the miscellaneous group. Ribosomal ribonucleic acid (16S) cataloguing showed that “M. radiodurans,” “M. radiophilus,” and one of the miscellaneous radiation-resistant strains were related (S AB = 0.51 to 0.63) but that they had as little oligonucleotide similarity to M. luteus and M. roseus (S AB = 0.23) as they all did to Escherichia coli. It is concluded that “M. radiodurans” and its relatives are not species of Micrococcus and that they represent clones that separated from the main stem early in procaryotic evolution. There are at least five such species: “M. radiodurans,” “M. radiophilus,” “M. radioproteolyticus,” “M. erythromyxa” (Sarcina erythromyxa), and one other unnamed.

Two acholeplasmas recovered from contaminated cell cultures or commercial fetal bovine serum were found to be similar in biochemical and serological properties. The organisms, although not requiring serum or cholesterol for growth, did require a supplement of 0.5% albumin and 10 μg of palmitic acid per ml to a serum-free medium for sustained growth in the absence of sterols. The growth of both organisms was inhibited in medium containing 20% horse serum, although smaller amounts of horse serum or 20% fetal bovine serum did not exert inhibitory effects. The two strains possessed biochemical properties typical of other non-sterol-requiring members of the Mycoplasmatales, and they were serologically distinct from seven established Acholeplasma species. On the basis of these findings and other morphological, biological, and serological properties of the organisms, it is proposed that these organisms represent a new species, Acholeplasma morum. Strain 72—043 (=ATCC 33211) is the type strain.

The names Photobacterium logei Bang et al., Beneckea nereida Baumann et al., and Beneckea gazogenes Harwood were not included in the recently published Approved Lists of Bacterial Names and hence have no standing in bacteriological nomenclature. However, these names are here revived for the same organisms with which they were originally associated and, by this action, now have valid status. According to the current rules of nomenclature, the authors of this present proposal, not the original authors, are to be cited as the authors of these names.

The name Vibrio vulnificus (Reichelt et al.) Farmer was validly published as a new combination in The Lancet, October, 1979. However, the editors of the Bacteriological Code did not include a mechanism to validate those names validly published in the literature outside the International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology during October, November, or December, 1979. Thus, all these new names and combinations lost standing because they could not be included on the Approved Lists of Bacterial Names. V. vulnificus comb. nov. is hereby proposed as a revived name so it can again have standing in nomenclature.

The name Planctomyces maris Bauld and Staley 1976 was not included in the recently published Approved Lists of Bacterial Names and hence has no standing in bacteriological nomenclature. However, the name Planctomyces maris sp. nov. is herein revived for the same organism with which it was originally associated and, by this action, now has valid status. The type strain of P. maris is strain 534-30 (= ATCC 29201)

This article proposes the family name Enterobacteriaceae nom. rev. to fill the void in nomenclature that has existed since 1 January 1980, when the name of the family was not included on the Approved Lists of Bacterial Names.