Prokaryotes (2006) 7:481–531
DOI: 10.1007/0-387-30747-8_17
CHAPTER 6.4
ehT
The Genus Flavobacterium
JEAN-FRANÇOIS BERNARDET AND JOHN P. BOWMAN
Introduction
The genus Flavobacterium Bergey, Harrison,
Breed, Hammer, and Huntoon 1923, emend.
Bernardet, Segers, Vancanneyt, Berthe, Kersters,
and Vandamme 1996 (Bergey et al., 1923; Ber-
nardet et al., 1996) is probably one of the best
examples of the revolution brought to the classi-
fication of a bacterial taxon by the use of the
phylogenetic techniques based on the compari-
son of 16S rRNA sequences. Of the seven species
considered in the previous edition of Bergey’s
Manual of Systematic Bacteriology (Holmes
et al., 1984), only the type species F. aquatile was
finally retained while several other taxa, previ-
ously misclassified in other genera, were added
to form an extensively emended genus Flavobac-
terium (Bernardet et al., 1996). Since then, the
genus has considerably expanded owing to the
description of many new species mostly originat-
ing from polar habitats. The organisms currently
included in the genus Flavobacterium were dis-
tributed among different chapters in previous
editions of Bergey’s Manual and of The Prokary-
otes. In Bergey’s Manual, Flavobacterium
aquatile was dealt with in the chapter “Genus
Flavobacterium” (Holmes et al., 1984), while
several other Flavobacterium species were
considered (under other generic epithets) in the
chapter “Order I. Cytophagales” (Reichenbach,
1989) in the second edition of The Prokaryotes.
The latter species were also included in the
chapter The Order Cytophagales in the second
edition, while F. aquatile was excluded from
the chapter The Genera Flavobacterium, Sphin-
gobacterium, and Weeksella also from this Vol-
ume and not considered anywhere else! These
chapters contain a wealth of information and are
still well worth consulting.
The history and structure of the family
Flavobacteriaceae, of which the genus Flavo-
bacterium is the type genus, are presented in
the chapter “An Introduction to the Family
Flavobacteriaceae” in this Volume. The taxo-
nomic and nomenclatural issues concerning
the genus Flavobacterium are dealt with by
the subcommittee on the taxonomy of
suneG mu i re t cabova lF
Flavobacterium and Cytophaga-like bacteria
of the International Committee on Systematics
of Prokaryotes. This subcommittee has issued
minimal standards for the description of new
taxa in the genus Flavobacterium and other gen-
era in the family Flavobacteriaceae (Bernardet
et al., 2002).
Few species in the genus Flavobacterium have
been extensively studied and most of them are
represented by one strain (i.e., the type species
F. antarcticum as well as F. aquatile, F. flevense,
F. frigidarium, F. gillisiae, F. granuli, F. hydatis, F.
omnivorum, F. pectinovorum, F. saccharophilum,
F. xanthum and F. xinjiangense) or a limited num-
ber of strains in culture collections. Exceptions
are the fish-pathogenic species, of which many
strains are usually available; owing to their eco-
nomic significance worldwide, they have been
the subject of numerous studies (see the sections
“Habitat and Ecology” and “Pathogenicity and
Epidemiology” in this Chapter) and will provide
many examples in this chapter.
Phylogeny
Sequences of 16S rRNA and DNA gyrase large
subunit (gyrB) genes (Weisburg et al., 1985;
Woese et al., 1990; Nakagawa and Yamasato,
1993; Suzuki et al., 2001) locate the genus Fla-
vobacterium within the phylum “Bacteroidetes,”
clustering appropriately in a central position in
the family Flavobacteriaceae (Bernardet et al.,
1996) where it represents the type genus. Within
the family Flavobacteriaceae, the genus Fla-
vobacterium branches between two primary lin-
eages, one consisting of mostly marine genera
and the other of non-marine genera (see the
chapters An Introduction to the Family Fla-
vobacteriaceae in this Volume and The Marine
Clade of the Family Flavobacteriaceae: The
Genera Aequorivita, Arenibacter, Cellulophaga,
Croceibacter, Formosa, Gelidibacter, Gillisia,
Maribacter, Mesonia, Muricauda, Polaribacter,
Psychroflexus, Psychroserpens, Robiginitalea,
Salegentibacter, Tenacibaculum, Ulvibacter,
Vitellibacter and Zobellia in this Volume). This