Historical Process of Taxonomy of Genus Brucella: A Review. (English)

The title of brucellosis was named after isolation of the bacterium, that caused Malta fever, from four fatal cases amongst the British soldiers on the Malta Island by Dr. David Bruce. Subsequently, the genus Brucella was proposed after similar bacteria isolation from cattle and swine and the zoonotic connection was recognized. The close relations between the bacteria were known and then nomen species were designated on the basis of their specific preferential hosts, phage susceptibility and oxidative metabolism pattern of carbohydrate and amino-acid substrates. The diversity of host preference of Brucella suis and strains with low pathogenicity for human, such as B. neotomae and B. ovis, has caused a challenge for the taxonomy of Brucellae. On the one hand, the DNA homologies were striking, so a single species with sub-species was proposed. On the other hand, whole genome analyses with MLVA, MLSA, microarray and SNP studies have confirmed subtle differences between the species. As a result, recently, a return to a multi-noman species taxonomy has been confirmed and accepted by th sub-committee on Brucella taxonomy. Phylogenetic studies have shown 4 clades that have possibly evolved from a Brucella-Ochrobacterium soil ancestor. These clades are: 1) B. melitensis-B. abortus, 2) B. suis-B. canis, 3) B. neotomae, and 4) B. ceti-B. pinipedialis. The situation of B. microti is not yet established. B. ovis stands as a basal lineage of the tree. B. inopinata is a recently identified isolate which is slightly different from others in relation to the 16S-rRNA and other molecular studies. This review makes on the taxonomy of the genus Brucella according to its first description up to now. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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