Young J M, Kuykendall L D, Martínez-Romero E, Kerr A, Sawada H
Int J Syst Evol Microbiol. 2001 Jan;51(Pt 1):89-103. doi: 10.1099/00207713-51-1-89.
Rhizobium, Agrobacterium and Allorhizobium are genera within the bacterial family Rhizobiaceae, together with Sinorhizobium. The species of Agrobacterium, Agrobacterium tumefaciens (syn. Agrobacterium radiobacter), Agrobacterium rhizogenes, Agrobacterium rubi and Agrobacterium vitis, together with Allorhizobium undicola, form a monophyletic group with all Rhizobium species, based on comparative 16S rDNA analyses. Agrobacterium is an artificial genus comprising plant-pathogenic species. The monophyletic nature of Agrobacterium, Allorhizobium and Rhizobium and their common phenotypic generic circumscription support their amalgamation into a single genus, Rhizobium. Agrobacterium tumefaciens was conserved as the type species of Agrobacterium, but the epithet radiobacter would take precedence as Rhizobium radiobacter in the revised genus. The proposed new combinations are Rhizobium radiobacter, Rhizobium rhizogenes, Rhizobium rubi, Rhizobium undicola and Rhizobium vitis.
根瘤菌属、土壤杆菌属和异根瘤菌属与中华根瘤菌属同属于根瘤菌科细菌。基于16S核糖体DNA的比较分析，土壤杆菌属的根癌土壤杆菌（同义词：放射土壤杆菌）、发根土壤杆菌、悬钩子土壤杆菌、葡萄土壤杆菌以及异根瘤菌属的栖沼异根瘤菌与所有根瘤菌属物种共同构成了一个单系群。土壤杆菌属是一个包含植物致病物种的人为分类属。土壤杆菌属、异根瘤菌属和根瘤菌属的单系性质以及它们共同的表型分类界限支持将它们合并为一个单一的根瘤菌属。根癌土壤杆菌被保留为土壤杆菌属的模式种，但在修订后的属中，放射杆菌这个学名优先用于根瘤菌属，即放射根瘤菌。提议的新组合名称为放射根瘤菌、发根根瘤菌、悬钩子根瘤菌、栖沼根瘤菌和葡萄根瘤菌。
