Christensen H, Bisgaard M, Frederiksen W, Mutters R, Kuhnert P, Olsen J E
Int J Syst Evol Microbiol. 2001 Nov;51(Pt 6):2221-2225. doi: 10.1099/00207713-51-6-2221.
From 1990 to 2000, the number of published named taxa based upon new isolates at species and genus levels in International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, formerly International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology, have increased by approximately four- and sevenfold, respectively. New taxa based upon characterization of only a single isolate remained at around 40% for both categories. The Bacteriological Code (1990 Revision) has no recommendations on the number of strains required for definition of new taxa. For a few groups, a minimum number of 5-10 strains has been suggested in minimal standards. Since an exponential increase in new taxa can be expected in the future, the authors discuss problems related to naming new species and genera based upon descriptions of a single isolate and suggest that this practice is re-evaluated. It is proposed that the following should be added to Recommendation 30b of the Bacteriological Code: 'Descriptions should be based on as many strains as possible (minimum five), representing different sources with respect to geography and ecology in order to be well characterized both phenotypically and genotypically, to establish the centre (from which the type strain could be chosen) and the extent of the cluster to be named. In addition, comparative studies should be performed, including reference strains that represent neighbouring species and/or genera, in order to give descriptions that are sufficiently detailed to allow differentiation from these neighbours.'
从1990年到2000年，发表在《国际系统与进化微生物学杂志》（原《国际系统细菌学杂志》）上基于新分离株在种和属水平命名的分类单元数量分别增加了约四倍和七倍。仅基于单个分离株特征描述的新分类单元在这两类中均保持在40%左右。《细菌学法典》（1990年修订版）未对定义新分类单元所需的菌株数量给出建议。对于少数类群，在最低标准中建议最少需要5至10株菌株。鉴于预计未来新分类单元数量会呈指数增长，作者讨论了基于单个分离株描述来命名新物种和属所涉及的问题，并建议重新评估这种做法。提议在《细菌学法典》第30b条建议中增加以下内容：“描述应基于尽可能多的菌株（最少五株），这些菌株应代表不同的地理和生态来源，以便在表型和基因型上都能得到充分表征，确定中心（从中可选择模式菌株）以及要命名的类群范围。此外，应进行比较研究，包括代表相邻物种和/或属的参考菌株，以便给出足够详细的描述，从而能够与这些相邻类群区分开来。”
