Application of chemotaxonomic techniques to the taxonomy of anaerobic bacteria.

The use of chemical characters in bacterial classification and identification has proved to be an essential component of modern systematics. Several clinically important anaerobic genera, such as Bacteroides, Clostridium, Eubacterium, Fusobacterium and Peptostreptococcus, are known to be heterogeneous of the basis of chemotaxonomic and genetic data and are in need of further examination. Recent work on bacteriodes has led to the genus being redefined and restricted to species within the former Bacteroides fragilis group, and a number of new genera have been proposed. It is important that suitable phenotypic characters are identified so that newly-defined genospecies can be differentiated in diagnostic laboratories.