Nomenclature of Microorganisms

Nomenclature of Microorganisms

Nomenclature refers to the naming of microorganisms. The nomenclature of microorganisms is governed by the International Committee on Systematic Bacteriology and published as Approved List of Bacterial Names in the InternationalJournal of Systematic Bacteriology. This confers and maintainsuniformity for use of names of microorganisms accepted internationally. Similarly, the nomenclature and classification of viruses are governed by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. Two kinds of names are usually given to bacteria—common name and scientific name: 

·           The common or casual name for a microorganism varies from country to country and is usually known in the local language. For example tubercle bacillus, typhoid bacillus, gonococcus are common names for communication at the local level.

·           The scientific name is the international name that is accepted throughout the world. By accepted taxonomic conventions, the order names end in ales (e.g., the order Eubacteriales), family names end in aceae (e.g., the family Enterobacteriaceae), and the tribe names end in eae (e.g., the tribe Proteae). The order, family, and tribe names begin with capital letters. The genus name also begins with capital let-ter, but species name (e.g., coli) begins with running letter and not capital letter. Both the genus (e.g., Escherichia) and species names are either italicized or underlined when written in the text. The scientific name of the bacterium when written for the first time, is written in full (e.g., Escherichia coli), but later mentioned in an abbreviated form (e.g., Escherichia coli). When bacteria are referred to as a group, their names are neither capitalized nor italicized or underlined (e.g., streptococci).