Transfer of the Facultatively Anaerobic Organism Bacteroides corrodens Eiken to a New Genus, Eikenella

Abstract

It is proposed that the facultatively anaerobic, gram-negative organism described by Eiken (1958) and named by him Bacteroides corrodens be transferred to a new genus, which the authors name Eikenella. Organisms of this kind form a fairly homogeneous group and differ in important respects from the generally accepted Bacteroides species and from the members of the currently recognized genera of the family Brucellaceae, wherein the genus Eikenella is placed. An up-dated description of the type species, E. corrodens (Eiken) comb, n. (basionym: B. corrodens Eiken 1958), is given. The type strain of this species, previously designated by Henriksen, is Henriksen’s strain 333/54-55 (ATCC 23834; NCTC 10596), one of the strains originally studied by Eiken.