Prokaryotic Taxonomy Rules and Nomenclature Changes in the Mycobacterium Chelonae–Abscessus Group: Author Reply

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Future MicrobiologyVol. 5, No. 10 Letter to the EditorFree AccessProkaryotic taxonomy rules and nomenclature changes in the Mycobacterium chelonae–abscessus group: author replySylvia Cardoso Leão, Rafael Silva Duarte & Erica ChimaraSylvia Cardoso Leão† Author for correspondenceDepartamento de Microbiologia, Imunologia e Parasitologia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Rua Botucatu 862 3° andar, São Paulo-SP, Brazil. Search for more papers by this authorEmail the corresponding author at sylvia.leao@unifesp.br, Rafael Silva DuarteInstituto de Microbiologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, BrazilSearch for more papers by this author & Erica ChimaraSetor de Micobactérias, Instituto Adolfo Lutz, São Paulo, SP, BrazilSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:12 Nov 2010https://doi.org/10.2217/fmb.10.121AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInReddit We thank Jorge Sampaio for his interest in our paper and appreciate his suggestions regarding the taxonomy of rapidly growing mycobacteria. His concern about the nomenclature of members of the Mycobacterium chelonae–abscessus group is justifiable. After an extensive phenotypic and genotypic characterization of members of the M. chelonae–abscessus group, Leao et al. proposed the union of M. abscessus, M. bolletii and M. massiliense and the recognition of two subspecies within M. abscessus: M. abscessus subsp. abscessus and M. abscessus subsp. massiliense [1]. The name ‘massiliense’ was chosen as it appeared first in the literature. A note has been submitted and is under evaluation in the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology (ITSEM) to provide a complete and strict systematic description of M. abscessus and its subspecies in accordance with the Rules of the Bacteriological Code (1990 Revision) [2,3]. In this note, the name M. abscessus subsp. massiliense is corrected to M. abscessus subsp. bolletii because according to Rule 24b (2) the name M. bolletii has priority over the name M. massiliense; these taxa are heterotypic synonyms and, according to Rule 38, must be united under the name M. bolletii; and finally, according to Rule 50b, the name of the subspecies must be M. abscessus subsp. bolletii. However, we disagree with publishing an erratum because at the time our paper was published in Future Microbiology [4] the nomenclature of the proposed M. abscessus subspecies was not validated and there was only one reference available for citation, that of Leao et al. [1]. Moreover, a detailed description of the cited species and subspecies is required and a possible change in the nomenclature of these taxa in the future is still under consideration by the IJSEM.Financial & competing interests disclosureThe authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.Bibliography1 Leao SC, Tortoli E, Viana-Niero C et al.: Characterization of mycobacteria from a major Brazilian outbreak suggests that revision of the taxonomic status of members of the Mycobacterium chelonae–M. abscessus group is needed. J. Clin. Microbiol.47(9),2691–2698 (2009).Crossref, Medline, CAS, Google Scholar2 De Vos P, Trüper HG: Judicial commission of the International Committee on Systematic Bacteriology. IXth International (IUMS) Congress of Bacteriology and Applied Microbiology. Minutes of the meetings, 14, 15 and 18 August 1999, Sydney, Australia. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol.50,2239–2244 (2000).Crossref, Google Scholar3 Lapage SP, Sneath PHA, Lessel EF, Skerman VBD, Seeliger HPR, Clark WA: International Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria (1990 Revision). American Society for Microbiology, Washington, DC, USA (1992).Google Scholar4 Leao SC, Viana-Niero C, Matsumoto CK et al.: Epidemic of surgical-site infections by a single clone of rapidly growing mycobacteria in Brazil. Future Microbiol.5(6),971–980 (2010).Link, Google ScholarFiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Vol. 5, No. 10 Follow us on social media for the latest updates Metrics History Published online 12 November 2010 Published in print October 2010 Information© Future Medicine LtdFinancial & competing interests disclosureThe authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.PDF download