Name: Mesorhizobium Jarvis et al. 1997

Category: Genus

Proposed as: gen. nov.

Etymology: Me.so.rhi.zo’bi.um. Gr. masc. adj. mesos, middle; N.L. neut. n. Rhizobium, bacterial generic name; N.L. neut. n. Mesorhizobium, the meso-growing rhizobium, referring to the growth rate intermediate between those of the genera Rhizobium and Bradyrhizobium

Gender, pronunciation (Latin): neuter (stem: Mesorhizobi-), me-so-r^hi-ZO-bi-um

Type species: Mesorhizobium loti (Jarvis et al. 1982) Jarvis et al. 1997

Conduct genome-based taxonomy of genus at TYGS

16S rRNA gene: Analyse FASTA

Valid publication: Jarvis BDW, Van Berkum P, Chen WX, Nour SM, Fernandez MP, Cleyet-Marel JC, Gillis M. Transfer of Rhizobium loti, Rhizobium huakuii, Rhizobium ciceri, Rhizobium mediterraneum, and Rhizobium tianshanense to Mesorhizobium gen. nov. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 1997; 47:895-898. 🇳🇿

IJSEM list: Anonymous. Notification list. Notification that new names and new combinations have appeared in volume 47, part 3 of the IJSB. Int J Syst Bacteriol 1997; 47:1275-1276.

Nomenclatural status: validly published under the ICNP

Taxonomic status: correct name

• Synonyms:

  • Name	Kind
    "Candidatus Willemsiella" Van Lill et al. 2026	heterotypic synonym, not pro-validly published
    Allomesorhizobium Li et al. 2025	heterotypic synonym, validly published under the ICNP
    Neomesorhizobium Li et al. 2025	heterotypic synonym, validly published under the ICNP

• Emendations:
  • Li et al. 2024 Li Y, Guo T, Sun L, Wang ET, Young JPW, Tian CF. Phylogenomic analyses and reclassification of the Mesorhizobium complex: proposal for 9 novel genera and reclassification of 15 species. BMC Genomics 2024; 25:419. 🇨🇳 Oren A, Göker M. List of changes in taxonomic opinion no. 41. Notification of changes in taxonomic opinion previously published outside the IJSEM. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2025; 75:6561.
    Notes:
    • ⊖ Emendation accompanied by the removal of 9 species from the genus.

• Notes:
  • 🧕 Hameed et al. (2015) assigned this genus to the family Phyllobacteriaceae Mergaert and Swings 2006. Publication: Hameed A, Shahina M, Lai WA, Lin SY, Young LS, Liu YC, Hsu YH, Young CC. Oricola cellulosilytica gen. nov., sp. nov., a cellulose-degrading bacterium of the family Phyllobacteriaceae isolated from surface seashore water, and emended descriptions of Mesorhizobium loti and Phyllobacterium myrsinacearum. Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek 2015; 107:759-771. 🇹🇼
  • 🧕 Hördt et al. (2020) assigned this genus to the family Phyllobacteriaceae Mergaert and Swings 2006. Publication: 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. 🇩🇪
  • 🚋 The type species of this genus has alternatively been placed in the genus Rhizobium Frank 1889 (Approved Lists 1980). Publication: Jarvis BDW, Pankhurst CE, Patel JJ. Rhizobium loti, a new species of legume root nodule bacteria. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 1982; 32:378-380. 🇳🇿
  • 🙄 This taxon name is occasionally misprinted (or affected by an OCR error) in some sources as: "Mesohizobium"; "Mesorhisobium"; "Mesorhizobim"; "Mesorhizobiurn"; "Mesorhizodium"; "Mesorhizohium"; "Mesorhizozium"; "Mesorhorhizobium"; "Mesovhizobium"; "Mezorhizobium"; "Mosorhizohium"; "Orhizobium"; "Sorhizobium".
  • 🧔 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 PM, Young JPW. International Committee on Systematics of Prokaryotes Subcommittee on the taxonomy of rhizobia and agrobacteria Minutes of the closed meeting, Granada, 4 September 2017. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2018; 68:3363-3368. 🇫🇷
  • 🧔 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: 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: 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 11 October 2022 followed by online discussion until 31 December 2022. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2023; 73:5856. 🇬🇧
  • 🧔 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 annual meeting by videoconference, 5 July 2021, followed by online discussion until 31 December 2021. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2022; 72:5453. 🇫🇮
  • 🧔 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. 🇫🇮
  • 🧔 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 2025 closed annual meeting. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2026; 76:7149. 🇫🇮
  • 💁 Taxonomists who have recently focused on this group are the corresponding authors of Jarvis et al. (1997), De Meyer et al. (2019), Zhang et al. (2012), Wang et al. (2007), Zhao et al. (2012). 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 BRCs most frequently used for deposits in this group are: LMG: 50; HAMBI: 32; DSM: 25; JCM: 13; CECT: 13; KCTC: 9; NBRC: 9; ICMP: 8; ATCC: 6; ACCC: 6.

Subdivision:

Number of child taxa with a validly published and correct name: 65
Number of child taxa with a validly published name, including synonyms: 72
Total number of child taxa: 88

• Child taxa:

  • Name	Nomenclatural status	Taxonomic status
    Mesorhizobium abyssinicae Degefu et al. 2013	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium acaciae Zhu et al. 2015	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium albiziae Wang et al. 2007	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    "Candidatus Mesorhizobium album" van Lill et al. 2024	not validly published	preferred name
    Mesorhizobium alexandrii Yang et al. 2026	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium alhagi Chen et al. 2010	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium amorphae Wang et al. 1999	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    "Candidatus Mesorhizobium argentiipisi" Muema et al. 2025	not validly published	preferred name
    Mesorhizobium atlanticum Ferraz Helene et al. 2019	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    "Candidatus Mesorhizobium australafricanum" van Lill et al. 2024	not validly published	preferred name
    Mesorhizobium australicum Nandasena et al. 2009	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    "Mesorhizobium bavaricum" Yu and Marín Arancibia 2026	not validly published	preferred name
    Mesorhizobium calcicola De Meyer et al. 2016	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium camelthorni Chen et al. 2011	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium cantuariense De Meyer et al. 2015	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    "Candidatus Mesorhizobium captivum" van Lill et al. 2024	not validly published	preferred name
    Mesorhizobium caraganae Guan et al. 2008	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium carbonis Li et al. 2019	validly published under the ICNP	synonym
    Mesorhizobium carmichaelinearum De Meyer et al. 2019	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium chacoense Velázquez et al. 2001	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium ciceri (Nour et al. 1994) Jarvis et al. 1997	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium comanense Pedron et al. 2021	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium composti Lin et al. 2020	validly published under the ICNP	synonym
    Mesorhizobium delmotii Mohamad et al. 2018	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium denitrificans Siddiqi et al. 2025	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    "Candidatus Mesorhizobium dulcispinae" van Lill et al. 2024	not validly published	preferred name
    Mesorhizobium ephedrae Liu et al. 2018	validly published under the ICNP	synonym
    Mesorhizobium erdmanii Martínez-Hidalgo et al. 2015	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium escarrei Mohamad et al. 2022	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium gobiense Han et al. 2008	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium hankyongi Siddiqi et al. 2019	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium hawassense Degefu et al. 2013	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium helmanticense Marcos-García et al. 2017	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    "Mesorhizobium hominis" Lo et al. 2013	not validly published	preferred name
    Mesorhizobium huakuii (Chen et al. 1991) Jarvis et al. 1997	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    "Candidatus Mesorhizobium humile" Van Lill et al. 2024	not validly published	preferred name
    "Mesorhizobium hungaricum" Crovadore et al. 2016	not validly published	preferred name
    Mesorhizobium intechi Estrella et al. 2024	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium japonicum Martínez-Hidalgo et al. 2016	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium jarvisii Martínez-Hidalgo et al. 2015	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium koreense Lee et al. 2026	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium kowhaii De Meyer et al. 2016	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium liriopis Kim et al. 2023	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium loti (Jarvis et al. 1982) Jarvis et al. 1997	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium maamorense Alami et al. 2026	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium marinum Zan et al. 2025	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium mediterraneum (Nour et al. 1995) Jarvis et al. 1997	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium metallidurans Vidal et al. 2009	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium microcysteis Jung et al. 2021	validly published under the ICNP	synonym
    "Mesorhizobium monacense" Yu and Marín Arancibia 2026	not validly published	preferred name
    "Candidatus Mesorhizobium montanum" van Lill et al. 2024	not validly published	preferred name
    Mesorhizobium muleiense Zhang et al. 2012	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium neociceri León-Barrios et al. 2022	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium newzealandense De Meyer et al. 2016	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium norvegicum Kabdullayeva et al. 2020	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium oceanicum Fu et al. 2017	validly published under the ICNP	synonym
    Mesorhizobium olivaresii Lorite et al. 2017	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium onobrychidis Ashrafi et al. 2023	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium opportunistum Nandasena et al. 2009	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium plurifarium de Lajudie et al. 1998	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium prunaredense Mohamad et al. 2018	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium qingshengii Zheng et al. 2013	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium retamae Ben Gaied et al. 2024	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    "Mesorhizobium rhizophilum" Gao et al. 2020	not validly published	preferred name
    Mesorhizobium robiniae Zhou et al. 2010	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    "Candidatus Mesorhizobium salmacidum" Muema et al. 2025	not validly published	preferred name
    Mesorhizobium sangaii Zhou et al. 2013	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium sanjuanii Sannazzaro et al. 2018	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium sediminum Yuan et al. 2016	validly published under the ICNP	synonym
    Mesorhizobium septentrionale Gao et al. 2004	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium shangrilense Lu et al. 2009	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium shonense Degefu et al. 2013	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium silamurunense Zhao et al. 2012	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium soli Nguyen et al. 2015	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium sophorae De Meyer et al. 2016	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium tamadayense Ramírez-Bahena et al. 2012	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium tarimense Han et al. 2008	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium temperatum Gao et al. 2004	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium terrae Jung et al. 2021	validly published under the ICNP	synonym
    Mesorhizobium thiogangeticum Ghosh and Roy 2006	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium tianshanense (Chen et al. 1995) Jarvis et al. 1997	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    "Candidatus Mesorhizobium vachelliae" van Lill et al. 2024	not validly published	preferred name
    Mesorhizobium ventifaucium Mohamad et al. 2022	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium waimense De Meyer et al. 2015	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium waitakense De Meyer et al. 2016	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Mesorhizobium wenxiniae Zhang et al. 2018	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    "Mesorhizobium xinjiangense" Meng et al. 2021	not validly published	preferred name
    "Mesorhizobium zhangyense" Xu et al. 2018	not validly published	preferred name

Parent taxon: Bartonellaceae Gieszczykiewicz 1939 (Approved Lists 1980)

Assigned by: diCenzo GC, Yang Y, Young JPW, Kuzmanovic N. Refining the taxonomy of the order Hyphomicrobiales (Rhizobiales) based on whole genome comparisons of over 130 type strains. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2024; 74:6328. 🇨🇦

Linking: To permanently link to this page, use https://doi.org/10.83108/rn.517427Copy to clipboardLink copied to clipboard

Record number: 517427

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