THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE CYTOPHAGA-LIKE BACTERIA

Abstract

Based on a thorough study of a considerable number of strains, most of them newly isolated, we believe that the taxonomy of the cytophagas and related organisms has to be reconstructed from its very base. Using GC and DNA-DNA hybridization data as well as chemosystematic, physiological, biochemical and morphological observations, the following groups can be recognized with some confidence: Sporocytophaga, Flexibacter (in the original sense), Lysobacter, and Sphaerocytophaga/Capnocytophaga. The remaining bulk of strains, classified now as Cytophaga/Flexibacter (the latter in a sense deviating from the original definition) comprises with certainty several different genera, and the genus Cytophaga s. str. may finally have to be restricted again to aerobic cellulose-decomposing soil organisms. With the exception of a few rare cases, our present knowledge does not allow us to reliably distinguish between species.