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Species Bifidobacterium longum
Name: Bifidobacterium longum Reuter 1963 (Approved Lists 1980)
Etymology: lon’gum. L. neut. adj. longum, long
Type strain: ATCC 15707; BCRC 11847; CCRC 11847; CCUG 28903; CGMCC 1.2186; CIP 64.62; DSM 20219; E194b; HAMBI 554; JCM 1217; KCTC 3128; LMG 10497; LMG 13197; NBIMCC 8821; NCAIM B.01819; NCDO 2259; NCFB 2259; NCIMB 702259; NCTC 11818
See detailed strain information at
Conduct genome-based taxonomy at
16S rRNA gene:
GU361823
Analyse
FASTA
Effective publication: Reuter G. Vergleichenden Untersuchung über die Bifidus-Flora im Säuglings- und Erwachsenenstuhl. Zentralblatt für Bakteriologie, Parasitenkunde, Infektionskrankheiten und Hygiene. Abteilung I 1963; 191:486-507.
IJSEM list:
Skerman VBD, McGowan V, Sneath PHA. Approved lists of bacterial names. Int J Syst Bacteriol 1980; 30:225-420. 
Nomenclatural status: validly published under the ICNP
Taxonomic status: correct name (and explicitly recommended for medical use)
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Notes:
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⏰ According to Mattarelli et al. (2008), this species is not an earlier heterotypic synonym of Bifidobacterium suis Matteuzzi et al. 1971 (Approved Lists 1980).
Publication:
Mattarelli P, Bonaparte C, Pot B, Biavati B. Proposal to reclassify the three biotypes of Bifidobacterium longum as three subspecies: Bifidobacterium longum subsp. longum subsp. nov., Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis comb. nov. and Bifidobacterium longum subsp. suis comb. nov. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2008; 58:767-772.
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⏰ According to Sakata et al. (2002), this species is an earlier heterotypic synonym of Bifidobacterium suis Matteuzzi et al. 1971 (Approved Lists 1980).
Publication:
Sakata S, Kitahara M, Sakamoto M, Hayashi H, Fukuyama M, Benno Y. Unification of Bifidobacterium infantis and Bifidobacterium suis as Bifidobacterium longum. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2002; 52:1945-1951.
- 🧬 The phylogenomic assignment score of this taxon is 0.09233 (N = 8).
- 😷 The risk group for Canada has been imported on 2024-02-27. The full classification is: risk group = 1, note = "default: 1 Animal classification RG: 1 - Security sensitive biological agent: No - Terrestrial animal pathogen under Canadian Food Inspection Agency authority: No - Containment level: Containment Level 1; biovar Infantis: 1 Animal classification RG: 1 - Security sensitive biological agent: No - Terrestrial animal pathogen under Canadian Food Inspection Agency authority: No - Containment level: Containment Level 1; biovar suis: 1 Animal classification RG: 1 - Security sensitive biological agent: No - Terrestrial animal pathogen under Canadian Food Inspection Agency authority: No - Containment level: Containment Level 1". — 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. — If in doubt, use the risk group given in the regulations for your country and, if these are not available, use the risk group given in the catalogue of the culture collection from which you have obtained or intend to obtain the strain.
- 🎓 Name mentioned 2373 times in PubMed until 2025-06-04.
- 🙆 This name is on the List of Recommended Names for bacteria of medical importance (LoRN) as the name to be applied to this species. The name is on LoRN because of the recorded risk group of the genus.
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🧍 According to Bartlett et al. (2022), this species appears to be part of the gut microflora.
Publication:
Bartlett A, Padfield D, Lear L, Bendall R, Vos M. A comprehensive list of bacterial pathogens infecting humans. Microbiology 2022; 168:0.
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🧍 The genome of the type strain was sequenced as part of the GEBA (Genomic Encyclopedia of Bacteria and Archaea) project. — 🧍 The phylogenetic position of this species was determined in a genome-scale analysis by Nouioui et al. (2018).
Publication:
Nouioui I, Carro L, Garcia-Lopez M, Meier-Kolthoff JP, Woyke T, Kyrpides NC, Pukall R, Klenk HP, Goodfellow M, Goker M. Genome-Based Taxonomic Classification of the Phylum Actinobacteria. Front Microbiol 2018; 9:2007.
- 🧍 The species is divided into three biotypes, the infantis type, the longum type and the suis type, by molecular methods. — Leibniz Institute DSMZ. Prokaryotic Nomenclature Up-to-date, 2018-12-11.
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🧍 See also:
Publication:
Klein G. International Committee on Systematics of Prokaryotes Subcommittee on the Taxonomy of Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus and Related Organisms: Minutes of the meetings, 30 August and 1 September 2006, Bologna, Italy. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 2007; 57:1367-1369.
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🧍 The "subcommittee on the taxonomy of Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus and related organisms" [1] disagreed with the paper of Sakata et al. 2002 [2] and the unification of Bifidobacterium infantis and Bifidobacterium suis as Bifidobacterium longum and the establishment of only biotypes of the latter. According to the "subcommittee on the taxonomy of Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus and related organisms" [3], three new subspecies of Bifidobacterium longum should be proposed. In 2008, Mattarelli et al. [4] proposed a new reclassification of the three biovars Longum, Infantis and Suis as three subspecies of Bifidobacterium longum: Bifidobacterium longum subsp. longum subsp. nov., Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis comb. nov. and Bifidobacterium longum subsp. suis comb. nov.
Publication:
Klein G. International Committee on Systematics of Prokaryotes Subcommittee on the Taxonomy of Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus and Related Organisms. Minutes of the meetings, 1 and 2 April 2005, Stuttgart-Hohenheim, Germany. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 2006; 56:2501-2503.
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⏰ According to Mattarelli et al. (2008), this species is not an earlier heterotypic synonym of Bifidobacterium suis Matteuzzi et al. 1971 (Approved Lists 1980).
Publication:
Mattarelli P, Bonaparte C, Pot B, Biavati B. Proposal to reclassify the three biotypes of Bifidobacterium longum as three subspecies: Bifidobacterium longum subsp. longum subsp. nov., Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis comb. nov. and Bifidobacterium longum subsp. suis comb. nov. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2008; 58:767-772.
Number of child taxa with a validly published and correct name: 5
Number of child taxa with a validly published name, including synonyms: 5
Total number of child taxa: 6
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Child taxa:
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Name Nomenclatural status Taxonomic status "Bifidobacterium longum subsp. animalis" Mitsuoka 1969 not validly published, basonym of name in Approved Lists synonym Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis (Reuter 1963) Mattarelli et al. 2008 validly published under the ICNP correct name Bifidobacterium longum subsp. iuvenis Modesto et al. 2023 validly published under the ICNP correct name Bifidobacterium longum subsp. longum (Reuter 1963) Mattarelli et al. 2008 (Approved Lists 1980) validly published under the ICNP correct name Bifidobacterium longum subsp. suillum Yanokura et al. 2015 validly published under the ICNP correct name Bifidobacterium longum subsp. suis (Matteuzzi et al. 1971) Mattarelli et al. 2008 validly published under the ICNP correct name
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Parent taxon: Bifidobacterium Orla-Jensen 1924 (Approved Lists 1980)
Assigned by: Reuter G. Vergleichenden Untersuchung über die Bifidus-Flora im Säuglings- und Erwachsenenstuhl. Zentralblatt für Bakteriologie, Parasitenkunde, Infektionskrankheiten und Hygiene. Abteilung I 1963; 191:486-507.
Linking: To permanently link to this page, use https://lpsn.dsmz.de/species/bifidobacterium-longumLink copied to clipboard
Record number: 774044
This LPSN page was printed on 2025-07-14 05:35:15