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Title: A REVISION OF RHIZOBIUM FRANK 1889 WITH THE INCLUSION OF AGROBACTERIUM, SINORHIZOBIUM, AND ALLORHIZOBIUM

Author
item Kuykendall, Larry
item WANG, E - UNAM, MORELOS, MEXICO
item MARTINEZ-ROMERO, E - UNAM, MORELOS, MEXICO
item KERR, A - RETIRED, ADELAIDE, AUS
item SAWADA, H - AGRO-ENVIR. SCI., JAPAN
item YOUNG, J - LANDCARE RESEARCH, NZ

Submitted to: International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/5/2000
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Rhizobium, Agrobacterium, Sinorhizobium and Allorhizobium are four genera of plant-interactive bacteria that are so closely related and phenotypically indistinct as to warrant their amalgamation into a single genus, Rhizobium. This information will be of interest to microbiologists, plant pathologists and plant molecular biologists.

Technical Abstract: Rhizobium, Agrobacterium, Sinorhizobium and Allorhizobium are members of the Family Rhizobiaceae. Because there is a lack of genotypic or phenotypic characteristics by which these genera can be circumscribed, their amalgamation into Rhizobium is proposed, with three subgenera based on comparative 16S rDNA sequence analyses; Sub-genus 1. Rhizobium, comprising the species, R. leguminosarum, R. etli, R. gallicum, R. hainanense, R. mongolense, R. rhizogenes and R. tropici; Subgenus 2. Agrobacterium, comprising R. galegae, R. huautlense, R. radiobacter, R. rubi, R. undicola and R. vitis; Subgenus 3. Sinorhizobium, comprising R. fredii, R. medicae, R. meliloti, R. sahelense, R. terangae and R. xinjiangense. R. giardinii is a species whose subgeneric position has not been determined. In this treatment, the pathogenic species previously in Agrobacterium, A. rhizogenes, A. rubi, A. tumefaciens and a. vitis, are allocated according to their natural relationships in appropriate subgenera. R. rhizogenes is allocated to the subgenus Rhizobium. A. tumefaciens is renamed as R. radiobacter and, with A. rubi, and A. vitis, is allocated to the subgenus Agrobacterium. Allorhizobium undicola is also allocated, as R. undicola, to the subgenus Agrobacterium. The relationships of these species in the genus Rhizobium to nodulating and hypertrophying species in the Family Phyllobacteriaceae (Mesorhizobium and Phyllobacterium), and the related families Brucellaceae and Bartonellaceae, are examined.