Name: Ensifer adhaerens Casida 1982

Category: Species

Proposed as: sp. nov.

Etymology: ad.hae’rens. L. part. adj. adhaerens, adhering to

Gender: masculine

Type strain: A; ATCC 33212; JCM 21105; LMG 20216; NBRC 100388

See detailed strain information at

Conduct genome-based taxonomy at

16S rRNA gene: AB681163 Analyse FASTA

Valid publication: Casida Jr. LE. Ensifer adhaerens gen. nov., sp. nov.: a bacterial predator of bacteria in soil. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 1982; 32:339-345.

Nomenclatural status: validly published under the ICNP

Taxonomic status: correct name

Risk group: 1

• Synonyms:

  • Name	Kind
    "Sinorhizobium adhaerens" (Casida 1982) Willems et al. 2003	homotypic synonym, not validly published

• Emendations:
  • Hördt et al. 2020 Hordt A, Lopez MG, Meier-Kolthoff JP, Schleuning M, Weinhold LM, Tindall BJ, Gronow S, Kyrpides NC, Woyke T, Goker M. Analysis of 1,000+ Type-Strain Genomes Substantially Improves Taxonomic Classification of Alphaproteobacteria. Front Microbiol 2020; 11:468. Oren A, Garrity GM. List of changes in taxonomic opinion no. 32. Notification of changes in taxonomic opinion previously published outside the IJSEM. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2020; 70:4061-4090.

• Notes:
  • 🥇 Nomenclatural type of the genus Ensifer Casida 1982. Publication: Casida Jr. LE. Ensifer adhaerens gen. nov., sp. nov.: a bacterial predator of bacteria in soil. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 1982; 32:339-345.
  • ⏰ According to Wang et al. (2013), this species is not an earlier heterotypic synonym of Ensifer morelense (Wang et al. 2002) Wang et al. 2015. Publication: Wang YC, Wang F, Hou BC, Wang ET, Chen WF, Sui XH, Chen WX, Li Y, Zhang YB. Proposal of Ensifer psoraleae sp. nov., Ensifer sesbaniae sp. nov., Ensifer morelense comb. nov. and Ensifer americanum comb. nov. Syst Appl Microbiol 2013; 36:467-473.
  • ⏰ According to Wang et al. (2013), this species is not an earlier heterotypic synonym of Sinorhizobium morelense Wang et al. 2002. Publication: Wang YC, Wang F, Hou BC, Wang ET, Chen WF, Sui XH, Chen WX, Li Y, Zhang YB. Proposal of Ensifer psoraleae sp. nov., Ensifer sesbaniae sp. nov., Ensifer morelense comb. nov. and Ensifer americanum comb. nov. Syst Appl Microbiol 2013; 36:467-473.
  • ⏰ According to Wang et al. (2013), this species is not an earlier heterotypic synonym of Ensifer morelensis corrig. (Wang et al. 2002) Wang et al. 2015. Publication: Wang YC, Wang F, Hou BC, Wang ET, Chen WF, Sui XH, Chen WX, Li Y, Zhang YB. Proposal of Ensifer psoraleae sp. nov., Ensifer sesbaniae sp. nov., Ensifer morelense comb. nov. and Ensifer americanum comb. nov. Syst Appl Microbiol 2013; 36:467-473.
  • ⏰ According to Young (2003), this species is an earlier heterotypic synonym of Ensifer morelense (Wang et al. 2002) Wang et al. 2015. Publication: Young JM. The genus name Ensifer Casida 1982 takes priority over Sinorhizobium Chen et al. 1988, and Sinorhizobium morelense Wang et al. 2002 is a later synonym of Ensifer adhaerens Casida 1982. Is the combination "Sinorhizobium adhaerens" (Casida 1982) Willems et al. 2003 legitimate? Request for an Opinion. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2003; 53:2107-2110.
  • ⏰ According to Young (2003), this species is an earlier heterotypic synonym of Sinorhizobium morelense Wang et al. 2002. Publication: Young JM. The genus name Ensifer Casida 1982 takes priority over Sinorhizobium Chen et al. 1988, and Sinorhizobium morelense Wang et al. 2002 is a later synonym of Ensifer adhaerens Casida 1982. Is the combination "Sinorhizobium adhaerens" (Casida 1982) Willems et al. 2003 legitimate? Request for an Opinion. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2003; 53:2107-2110.
  • ⏰ According to Young (2003), this species is an earlier heterotypic synonym of Ensifer morelensis corrig. (Wang et al. 2002) Wang et al. 2015. Publication: Young JM. The genus name Ensifer Casida 1982 takes priority over Sinorhizobium Chen et al. 1988, and Sinorhizobium morelense Wang et al. 2002 is a later synonym of Ensifer adhaerens Casida 1982. Is the combination "Sinorhizobium adhaerens" (Casida 1982) Willems et al. 2003 legitimate? Request for an Opinion. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2003; 53:2107-2110.
  • 🏢 Synonymy of this taxon was mentioned in an IJSEM list. Publication: Oren A, Garrity GM. Validation list no. 162. List of new names and new combinations previously effectively, but not validly, published. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2015; 65:741-744.
  • 😷 The risk group for Canada has been imported on 2024-02-27. The full classification is: risk group = 1, note = "Security sensitive biological agent: No - Terrestrial animal pathogen under Canadian Food Inspection Agency authority: No". — The risk group for Swiss Confederation has been imported on 2024-02-01. The full classification is: risk group = 1. — The risk group for Germany has been imported on 2023-10-29. The full classification is: risk group = 1.
  • 🎓 Name mentioned 83 times in PubMed until 2024-03-27.
  • 🧍 Phylogenetically, Ensifer Casida 1982 and Sinorhizobium Chen et al. 1988 may be regarded as a single genus. Because Sinorhizobium was proposed in 1988, the older name Ensifer has priority. However, there are several reasons why a change from Sinorhizobium to Ensifer may not be the best solution and making an exception to Rule 38 may be more appropriate. Willems et al. [1] propose the new combination "Sinorhizobium adhaerens" (Casida 1982) Willems et al. 2003 and put forward a Request for an Opinion to the Judicial Commission regarding the conservation of "Sinorhizobium adhaerens" over Ensifer adhaerens. This proposal was previously expressed by the "Subcommittee on the taxonomy of Agrobacterium and Rhizobium" [2]. A new name or new combination subject to a Request for an Opinion should not be considered as validly published unless the Judicial Commision votes to approve the Request. Consequently, the proposal of "Sinorhizobium adhaerens" (Casida 1982) Willems et al. 2003 is not validly published and not in accordance with the rules of the ICNP. According to J.M. Young [3], there is no justification in the Bacteriological Code (1990 Revision) for the proposal of the new combination "Sinorhizobium adhaerens" (Casida 1982) Willems et al. 2003. This author [3] proposed that Ensifer adhaerens Casida 1982 be the legitimate nomenclature and requested for a Judicial Opinion. At its meetings in July 2005 at the IUMS Congress in San Francisco, the Judicial Commission of the International Committee on Systematics of Prokaryotes [4] ruled on the Requests for an Opinion of Willems et al. [1] and Young [2]. The genus name Ensifer Casida 1982 has priority over the genus name Sinorhizobium Chen et al. 1988, and the two names have been shown by Willems et al. [1] to be synonyms. It was generally felt that the transfer of the members of the genus Sinorhizobium to the genus Ensifer would not cause confusion and, therefore, the Judicial Commission [4] denied the request to conserve the genus name Sinorhizobium Chen et al. 1988 over the genus name Ensifer Casida 1982. A direct result of this ruling is that the name "Sinorhizobium adhaerens" Willems et al. 2003 is also not validly published, since it was proposed in anticipation of this Opinion [4]. At its meetings in August 2008 [5], the "Subcommittee on the taxonomy of Agrobacterium and Rhizobium" did not disagree with the interpretation of the Judicial Commission. However, the subcommittee disagrees with the justification. The transfer of the members of the genus Sinorhizobium to the genus Ensifer would cause great confusion in the scientific community. At a session of the 8th European Nitrogen Fixation Conference on 31 August 2008, an overwhelming majority of those present indicated that they were not in favour of changing the name from Sinorhizobium to Ensifer. In 2010, J.M. Young [6] comments and disapproves the decision of the subcommittee. Publication: Martens M, Delaere M, Coopman R, De Vos P, Gillis M, Willems A. Multilocus sequence analysis of Ensifer and related taxa. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2007; 57:489-503.

Parent taxon: Ensifer Casida 1982

Assigned by: Casida Jr. LE. Ensifer adhaerens gen. nov., sp. nov.: a bacterial predator of bacteria in soil. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 1982; 32:339-345.

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Record number: 783765