Name: Faecalibacterium prausnitzii (Hauduroy et al. 1937) Duncan et al. 2002

Category: Species

Proposed as: comb. nov.

Basonym: "Bacteroides praussnitzii" Hauduroy et al. 1937

Etymology: praus.nit’zi.i. N.L. gen. masc. n. prausnitzii, of Prausnitz, named for C. Prausnitz, the bacteriologist who first isolated this organism

Pronunciation (Latin), gender: … pra͡us-NIT-zi-i, neuter

Type strain: ATCC 27768; NCIMB 13872

Conduct genome-based taxonomy at

16S rRNA gene: AJ413954 Analyse FASTA

Valid publication: Duncan SH, Hold GL, Harmsen HJ, Stewart CS, Flint HJ. Growth requirements and fermentation products of Fusobacterium prausnitzii, and a proposal to reclassify it as Faecalibacterium prausnitzii gen. nov., comb. nov. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2002; 52:2141-2146. 🇬🇧

IJSEM list: Anonymous. Notification list. Notification that new names and new combinations have appeared in volume 52, part 6 of the IJSEM. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2003; 53:375-376.

Nomenclatural status: validly published under the ICNP

Taxonomic status: correct name (and explicitly recommended for medical use)

Risk group: 1

• Synonyms:

  • Name	Kind
    Fusobacterium prausnitzii (Hauduroy et al. 1937) Moore and Holdeman 1970 (Approved Lists 1980)	homotypic synonym, validly published under the ICNP
    "Faecalibacterium moorei" Fitzgerald et al. 2018	homotypic synonym, not validly published
    "Bacteroides praussnitzii" Hauduroy et al. 1937	homotypic synonym, not validly published, basonym of name in Approved Lists

• Emendations:
  • Fitzgerald et al. 2018 Fitzgerald CB, Shkoporov AN, Sutton TDS, Chaplin AV, Velayudhan V, Ross RP, Hill C. Comparative analysis of Faecalibacterium prausnitzii genomes shows a high level of genome plasticity and warrants separation into new species-level taxa. BMC Genomics 2018; 19:931. 🇮🇪 Oren A, Garrity GM. List of changes in taxonomic opinion no. 30. Notification of changes in taxonomic opinion previously published outside the IJSEM. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2019; 69:1850-1851.
  • Zou et al. 2021 Zou Y, Lin X, Xue W, Tuo L, Chen MS, Chen XH, Sun CH, Li F, Liu SW, Dai Y, et al. Characterization and description of Faecalibacterium butyricigenerans sp. nov. and F. longum sp. nov., isolated from human faeces. Sci Rep 2021; 11:11340. 🇨🇳 Oren A, Garrity GM. List of changes in taxonomic opinion no. 35. Notification of changes in taxonomic opinion previously published outside the IJSEM. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2022; 72:5164.
    Notes:
    • 😢 The terminology used by the authors is in line with many other taxonomic studies and does not negatively affect their main results; some improvements may nevertheless be possible. Contrasting the term "chemotaxonomic" with "phenotypic" is not recommended. Using the term "phylogenetic data" (or equivalent) for sequence data is not advocated. See the LPSN phylogeny page for details.

• Notes:
  • 🥇 Nomenclatural type of the genus Faecalibacterium Duncan et al. 2002. Publication: Duncan SH, Hold GL, Harmsen HJ, Stewart CS, Flint HJ. Growth requirements and fermentation products of Fusobacterium prausnitzii, and a proposal to reclassify it as Faecalibacterium prausnitzii gen. nov., comb. nov. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2002; 52:2141-2146. 🇬🇧
  • 😩 Deposits incorrectly indicated in some sources as representing the type strain of this taxon: DSM 17677; JCM 31915.
  • 😷 The risk group for Canada has been imported on 2024-02-27. The full classification is: risk group = 1, note = "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 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 1234 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 species itself.
  • 🧍 The proposal by Fitzgerald et al. (2018) to assign a neotype strain is not in accordance with the ICNP. Publication: Oren A, Garrity GM. On neotypes and nomina nova: commentary on "Comparative analysis of Faecalibacterium prausnitzii genomes shows a high level of genome plasticity and warrants separation into new species-level taxa", by C.B. Fitzgerald et al. (BMC Genomics (2018) 19:931). BMC Genomics 2020; 21:335. 🇮🇱

Parent taxon: Faecalibacterium Duncan et al. 2002

Assigned by: Duncan SH, Hold GL, Harmsen HJ, Stewart CS, Flint HJ. Growth requirements and fermentation products of Fusobacterium prausnitzii, and a proposal to reclassify it as Faecalibacterium prausnitzii gen. nov., comb. nov. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2002; 52:2141-2146. 🇬🇧

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Record number: 776172