TY - JOUR
T1 - Pathogenicity and Its Implications in Taxonomy
T2 - The Brucella and Ochrobactrum Case
AU - Moreno, Edgardo
AU - Blasco, José María
AU - Letesson, Jean Jacques
AU - Gorvel, Jean Pierre
AU - Moriyón, Ignacio
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors wish to express their gratitude for the support of the National Academy of Sciences of Costa Rica (E.M.), the Aragón Government (Grupo de Investigación A13_17R) (J.M.B.), the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), and by the Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale (FRM) grant DEQ20170336745 (J.P.G.) and the Institute of Tropical University of Navarra-Health funders (Fundación la CAIXA-LCF/PR/PR13/11080005-and Fundación Caja Navarra, Fundación María Francisca de Roviralta, Ubesol and Inversiones Garcilaso de la Vega S.L) and MINECO (PID2019-107601RA-C32) (I.M.).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2022/3
Y1 - 2022/3
N2 - The intracellular pathogens of the genus Brucella are phylogenetically close to Ochrobac-trum, a diverse group of free-living bacteria with a few species occasionally infecting medically compromised patients. A group of taxonomists recently included all Ochrobactrum organisms in the genus Brucella based on global genome analyses and alleged equivalences with genera such as Mycobacterium. Here, we demonstrate that such equivalencies are incorrect because they overlook the complexities of pathogenicity. By summarizing Brucella and Ochrobactrum divergences in lifestyle, structure, physiology, population, closed versus open pangenomes, genomic traits, and pathogenicity, we show that when they are adequately understood, they are highly relevant in taxonomy and not unidimensional quantitative characters. Thus, the Ochrobactrum and Brucella differences are not limited to their assignments to different “risk-groups”, a biologically (and hence, taxonomically) oversimplified description that, moreover, does not support ignoring the nomen periculosum rule, as proposed. Since the epidemiology, prophylaxis, diagnosis, and treatment are thoroughly unrelated, merging free-living Ochrobactrum organisms with highly pathogenic Brucella organisms brings evi-dent risks for veterinarians, medical doctors, and public health authorities who confront brucellosis, a significant zoonosis worldwide. Therefore, from taxonomical and practical standpoints, the Brucella and Ochrobactrum genera must be maintained apart. Consequently, we urge researchers, culture collections, and databases to keep their canonical nomenclature.
AB - The intracellular pathogens of the genus Brucella are phylogenetically close to Ochrobac-trum, a diverse group of free-living bacteria with a few species occasionally infecting medically compromised patients. A group of taxonomists recently included all Ochrobactrum organisms in the genus Brucella based on global genome analyses and alleged equivalences with genera such as Mycobacterium. Here, we demonstrate that such equivalencies are incorrect because they overlook the complexities of pathogenicity. By summarizing Brucella and Ochrobactrum divergences in lifestyle, structure, physiology, population, closed versus open pangenomes, genomic traits, and pathogenicity, we show that when they are adequately understood, they are highly relevant in taxonomy and not unidimensional quantitative characters. Thus, the Ochrobactrum and Brucella differences are not limited to their assignments to different “risk-groups”, a biologically (and hence, taxonomically) oversimplified description that, moreover, does not support ignoring the nomen periculosum rule, as proposed. Since the epidemiology, prophylaxis, diagnosis, and treatment are thoroughly unrelated, merging free-living Ochrobactrum organisms with highly pathogenic Brucella organisms brings evi-dent risks for veterinarians, medical doctors, and public health authorities who confront brucellosis, a significant zoonosis worldwide. Therefore, from taxonomical and practical standpoints, the Brucella and Ochrobactrum genera must be maintained apart. Consequently, we urge researchers, culture collections, and databases to keep their canonical nomenclature.
KW - Brucella
KW - brucellosis
KW - core genome
KW - genus
KW - Ochrobactrum
KW - pangenome
KW - species
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85127410162&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/pathogens11030377
DO - 10.3390/pathogens11030377
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85127410162
SN - 2076-0817
VL - 11
JO - Pathogens
JF - Pathogens
IS - 3
M1 - 377
ER -