Evidence for the placement of the gram-negative Catonella morbi (Moore and Moore) and Johnsonella ignava (Moore and Moore) within the Clostridium subphylum of the gram-positive bacteria on the basis of 16S rRNA sequences.

Comparative 16S rRNA analysis was used to determine the phylogenetic positions of Catonella morbi and Johnsonella ignava, which are members of two monospecific genera of gram-negative anaerobic bacilli isolated from human gingival crevices. Both of these genera were found to belong to cluster XIVa (M. D. Collins, P. A. Lawson, A. Willems, J. J. Cordoba, J. Fernandez-Garayzabal, P. Garcia, J. Cai, H. Hippe, and J. A. E. Farrow, Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 44:812-826, 1994) of the Clostridium subphylum of gram-positive bacteria. Within this cluster, which contains several Clostridium, Coprococcus, Eubacterium, and Ruminococcus species, C. morbi and J. ignava formed two distinct lines that were separate from all other taxa. Our findings support the separate generic status of the genera Catonella and Johnsonella and show that these genera do not belong to the family Bacteroidaceae but instead belong to the gram-positive Clostridium subphylum.