Clinical Bacteriology – Lecture 09/15/23

Microbial Taxonomy Prelims

OUTLINE ® Subspecies may be recognized based on a consistent minor

phenotypic variation or genetic cluster of strains in a given
I. Taxonomy
group
II. Family
III. Genus • Biotype
IV. Species and ® Include a specific trait that is different but insufficient to
Subdivisions recognize as a distinct subspecies or species
V. Binomial Nomenclature ® Serologic (serotype) or genotypic (genotype)
VI. Identification BINOMIAL NOMENCLATURE
VII. Methods and Criteria • Nomenclature is limited to two taxa: genus and species
VIII. Importance • First letter of the genus is capitalized and can be abbreviated
® Streptococcus, S.
TAXONOMY • Species name is lowercase and never abbreviated
• Polyphasic ® pneumoniae
® Genotypic • both components are italicized or underlined
§ rRNA and whole genome sequences; epigenetic ® Streptococcus pneumoniae, Streptococcus pneumoniae
properties IDENTIFICATION
® Phenotypic • Microbial Identification
§ Morphologic or biochemical (including chemotaxonomic)
® Process by which key features of a microorganism are
® Phylogenetic (evolutionary relationships) delineated
CLASSIFICATION ® An organism is classified into appropriate genus and species
• Taxa consist of similar morphologic, physiologic, and genetic traits METHODS AND CRITERIA
• Domains (Bacteria, Archaea, Eukarya)
• Kingdom Genotypic Phenotypic Characteristics
® Phylum Characteristics
® Class Organism’s genetic Features beyond the genetic level
® Order makeup
® Family – organisms have a common attribute Nature of the Observable characteristics
® Genus – contains different species organism’s genes
® Species – most basic taxonomic group and nucleic acids
FAMILY Extensive analytic procedures that may re
• Typically contain a type of genus or a specific group of bacteria; required
Table 1. Methods and Criteria.
used as the root word in the name
• Formed by adding suffix -aceae to the root
• Type of species are determined by the International Committee for
Systematics of Prokaryotes
® 16s RNA sequencing
® Phenotypic traits
GENUS
• Genus (singular); Genera (plural)
• Contains species that are similar
® Genetic characteristics
® Phenotypic characteristics
• Because bacteria do not leave fossil records, classification above
this level is extremely difficult
SPECIES AND SUBDIVISIONS
• Species is the most basic taxonomic unit
® Collection of strains that share physiologic and genetic
features

Clinical Bacteriology – Lecture Microbial Taxonomy Page 1 of 2

 Figure 1.

Figure 2.

IMPORTANCE
• Microbiologists use phenotypic and genotypic features to provide
clinically relevant information in a timely manner
• Identification is not always straightforward
• Clinical microbiology sometimes serves as a sentinel for emerging
causes of infectious diseases

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