title: Numerical taxonomy of Bacteroides and other genera of Gram-negative anaerobic rods.
abstract: A numerical taxonomy was performed on 157 cultures (141 different strains) of species of Bacteroides, Polyphyromonas, Prevotella [not Prevotella (Labroue, 1976)] and Fusobacterium. Isolates were each tested for 111 phenotypic characters which included possession of constitutive enzymes, fermentation of specific carbohydrates, gas chromatographic analysis of metabolic end-products and of cellular carboxylic acid composition. Computation of similarity coefficients was followed by a single-linkage cluster analysis. At the 94% similarity level, the following groupings at genus level were apparent: (1) Bacteroides ureolyticus; (2) Fusobacterium mortiferum, F. necrogenes, F. necrophorum, F. nucleatum and F. varium; (3) B. caccae, B. distasonis, B. eggerthii, B. fragilis, B. merdae, B. ovatus, B stercoris, B. thetaiotaomicron, B. uniformus and B. vulgatus; (4) B. splanchnicus; (5) Porphyromonas asaccharolytica; (6) B. bivius (Prevotella bivia); (7) B. disiens (P. disiens); (8) B. intermedius (P. intermedia);and (9) B. melaninogenicus (P. melaninogenica). Single isolates of B. ruminicola (P. ruminicola), B. denticola (P. denticola) and B. capillosus did not cluster with other strains.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Hope Hospital, Salford, Great Britain.
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Jenkins
authors.forename: D B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Drucker
authors.forename: V F
authors.initials: VF
authors.lastname: Hillier
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Ganguli
mesh_terms: D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D001439:Bacteroides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000145:classification* / Q000502:physiology; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000032:analysis; D005285:Fermentation; D005673:Fusobacterium / Q000737:chemistry / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology; D006089:Gram-Negative Anaerobic Bacteria / Q000737:chemistry / Q000145:classification* / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D005227:Fatty Acids