Name: Ensifer Casida 1982

Category: Genus

Proposed as: gen. nov.

Etymology: En’si.fer. L. masc. adj. ensifer, sword-bearing; N.L. masc. n. Ensifer, sword bearer

Gender, pronunciation (Latin): masculine (stem: Ensifer-), EN-si-fer

Type species: Ensifer adhaerens Casida 1982

Conduct genome-based taxonomy of genus at TYGS

16S rRNA gene: 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

• Synonyms:

  • Name	Kind
    Sinorhizobium Chen et al. 1988	heterotypic synonym, validly published under the ICNP

• Emendations:
  • Young 2003 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. 🇳🇿 Euzeby JP. Notification list. Notification that new names and new combinations have appeared in volume 53, part 6 of the IJSEM. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2004; 54:309-311.
    Notes:
    • ⊕ Emendation accompanied by the proposal of 9 new species in the genus.
    • 🧍 According to J.M. Young [3], there is no justification in the Bacteriological Code (1990 Revision) for this step. This author [3] proposed that Ensifer adhaerens Casida 1982 be the legitimate nomenclature and requested for a Judicial Opinion. — 🧍 According to the "Subcommittee on the taxonomy of Agrobacterium and Rhizobium" [1], the genus Ensifer and the genus Sinorhizobium belong to a single taxon and Ensifer has priority. However, there are good reasons for retaining the name Sinorhizobium over Ensifer; hence, a case to this effect needs to be prepared for consideration by the Judicial Commission. In July 2003, Willems et al. [2] 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. 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. — 🧍 According to the "Subcommittee on the taxonomy of Agrobacterium and Rhizobium" [5], phylogenies based on several core genes suggest that Ensifer adhaerens and Sinorhizobium morelense form a sister clade to the rest of the Sinorhizobium species [Martens et al., Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol., 2007, 57, 489-503]. If confirmed, this could be a basis for retaining Sinorhizobium and Ensifer as distinct genera. — 🧍 At its meetings in August 2008 [6], 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 [7] comments and disapproves the decision of the subcommittee. — 🧍 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. [2] and J.M. Young [3]. 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. [2] 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].
  • Kuzmanović et al. 2022 Kuzmanovic N, Fagorzi C, Mengoni A, Lassalle F, diCenzo GC. Taxonomy of Rhizobiaceae revisited: proposal of a new framework for genus delimitation. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2022; 72:5243. 🇨🇦 Oren A, Garrity GM. Notification list. Notification that new names and new combinations have appeared in volume 72, part 3 of the IJSEM. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2022; 72:5393.
    Notes:
    • ⊖ Emendation accompanied by the removal of 8 species from the genus.

• Notes:
  • 🚋 The type species of this genus has alternatively been placed in the genus Sinorhizobium Chen et al. 1988. Publication: Willems A, Fernandez-Lopez M, Munoz-Adelantado E, Goris J, De Vos P, Martinez-Romero E, Toro N, Gillis M. Description of new Ensifer strains from nodules and proposal to transfer Ensifer adhaerens Casida 1982 to Sinorhizobium as Sinorhizobium adhaerens comb. nov. Request for an opinion. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2003; 53:1207-1217. 🇧🇪
  • 🙄 This taxon name is occasionally misprinted (or affected by an OCR error) in some sources as: "Enisfer"; "Ensijer".
  • 🧔 This taxon was discussed in a meeting of a Taxonomic Subcommittee of the ICSP. Publication: Lindstrom K, Young JP. International committee on systematics of prokaryotes; subcommittee on the taxonomy of agrobacterium and rhizobium: minutes of the meetings, 31 August 2008, Gent, Belgium. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2009; 59:921-922.
  • 🧔 This taxon was discussed in a meeting of a Taxonomic Subcommittee of the ICSP. Publication: de Lajudie P, Young JPW. International Committee on Systematics of Prokaryotes Subcommittee on the Taxonomy of Rhizobia and Agrobacteria Minutes of the meeting by video conference, 11 July 2018. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2019; 69:1835-1840. 🇫🇷
  • 🧔 This taxon was discussed in a meeting of a Taxonomic Subcommittee of the ICSP. Publication: Lindström K, Martinez-Romero ME. International Committee on Systematics of Prokaryotes Subcommittee on the taxonomy of Agrobacterium and Rhizobium. Minutes of the meeting, 4 July 2001, Hamilton, Canada. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 2002; 52:2337.
  • 🧔 This taxon was discussed in a meeting of a Taxonomic Subcommittee of the ICSP. Publication: de Lajudie P, Young JPW. International Committee on Systematics of Prokaryotes Subcommittee on the Taxonomy of Rhizobia and Agrobacteria Minutes of the closed meeting by videoconference, 17 July 2019. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2020; 70:3563-3571. 🇫🇷
  • 🧔 This taxon was discussed in a meeting of a Taxonomic Subcommittee of the ICSP. Publication: de Lajudie P, Martinez-Romero E. International Committee on Systematics of Prokaryotes Subcommittee on the taxonomy of Agrobacterium and Rhizobium Minutes of the meeting, 7 September 2014, Tenerife, Spain. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2017; 67:516-520. 🇫🇷
  • 🧔 This taxon was discussed in a meeting of a Taxonomic Subcommittee of the ICSP. Publication: de Lajudie PM, Young JPW. International Committee on Systematics of Prokaryotes Subcommittee for the Taxonomy of Rhizobium and Agrobacterium Minutes of the meeting, Budapest, 25 August 2016. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2017; 67:2485-2494. 🇫🇷
  • 🧔 This taxon was discussed in a meeting of a Taxonomic Subcommittee of the ICSP. Publication: Lindstrom K, Young JPW. International Committee on Systematics of Prokaryotes Subcommittee on the taxonomy of Agrobacterium and Rhizobium: minutes of the meeting, 7 September 2010, Geneva, Switzerland. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2011; 61:3089-3093.
  • 🧔 This taxon was discussed in a meeting of a Taxonomic Subcommittee of the ICSP. Publication: Mousavi SA, Young JPW. International Committee on Systematics of Prokaryotes Subcommittee on the Taxonomy of Rhizobia and Agrobacteria: Minutes of the closed annual meeting, videoconference on 2 October 2023, followed by online discussion until 31 December 2023. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2024; 74:6276. 🇫🇮
  • 🧔 This taxon was discussed in a meeting of a Taxonomic Subcommittee of the ICSP. Publication: Mousavi SA, Young JPW. International Committee on Systematics of Prokaryotes Subcommittee on the taxonomy of Rhizobia and Agrobacteria: minutes of the 2024 closed annual meeting. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2025; 75:6680. 🇫🇮
  • 💁 Taxonomists who have recently focused on this group are the corresponding authors of Yan et al. (2016). Editors in search of reviewers are advised to consider additional criteria such as whether a taxon is covered by one of the ICSP subcommittees.
  • 🧬 The phylogenomic assignment score of this taxon is 0.03755 (N = 21).
  • 🎰 The BRCs most frequently used for deposits in this group are: LMG: 24; HAMBI: 18; NBRC: 13; DSM: 12; ATCC: 11; ICMP: 6; CIP: 6; JCM: 5; KCTC: 3; USDA: 3.
  • 🧍 Pittman et al. (1991) suggested the abbreviation "ENSF" for this genus name but this does not appear to be of practical relevance any longer. Publication: Pittman KF, Walczak CA, Lock CM. Codes and abbreviations for approved of effectively published names of genera of bacteria published from January 1980 to December 1990. Int J Syst Bacteriol 1991; 41:571-579.

Subdivision:

Number of child taxa with a validly published and correct name: 24
Number of child taxa with a validly published name, including synonyms: 26
Total number of child taxa: 29

• Child taxa:

  • Name	Nomenclatural status	Taxonomic status
    Ensifer adhaerens Casida 1982	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Ensifer alkalisoli Li et al. 2016	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Ensifer americanum (Toledo et al. 2004) Wang et al. 2015	inaccurate spelling	misspelling
    Ensifer americanus corrig. (Toledo et al. 2004) Wang et al. 2015	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Ensifer arboris (Nick et al. 1999) Young 2003	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Ensifer aridi Rocha et al. 2024	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    "Ensifer aridi" Le Quere et al. 2017	not validly published	synonym
    Ensifer canadensis Bromfield et al. 2023	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Ensifer collicola Jang et al. 2024	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Ensifer fredii (Scholla and Elkan 1984) Young 2003	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Ensifer garamanticus Merabet et al. 2010	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Ensifer glycinis Yan et al. 2016	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Ensifer kostiensis (Nick et al. 1999) Young 2003	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Ensifer kummerowiae (Wei et al. 2002) Young 2003	validly published under the ICNP	synonym
    Ensifer medicae (Rome et al. 1996) Young 2003	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Ensifer meliloti (Dangeard 1926) Young 2003	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Ensifer mexicanus Lloret et al. 2011	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Ensifer morelense (Wang et al. 2002) Wang et al. 2015	inaccurate spelling	misspelling
    Ensifer morelensis corrig. (Wang et al. 2002) Wang et al. 2015	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Ensifer numidicus Merabet et al. 2010	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Ensifer oleiphilus Ershov et al. 2024	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Ensifer psoraleae Wang et al. 2015	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Ensifer saheli (De Lajudie et al. 1994) Young 2003	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Ensifer sesbaniae Wang et al. 2015	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Ensifer shofinae Chen et al. 2017	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Ensifer sojae Li et al. 2011	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Ensifer soli Lu et al. 2025	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Ensifer terangae (De Lajudie et al. 1994) Young 2003	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Ensifer xinjiangensis (Chen et al. 1988) Young 2003	validly published under the ICNP	synonym

Parent taxon: Rhizobiaceae Conn 1938 (Approved Lists 1980)

Assigned by: Rome S, Fernandez MP, Brunel B, Normand P, Cleyet-Marel JC. Sinorhizobium medicae sp. nov., isolated from annual Medicago spp. Int J Syst Bacteriol 1996; 46:972-980. 🇫🇷

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Record number: 515585