Name: Propionibacterium acnes subsp. defendens McDowell et al. 2016

Category: Subspecies

Proposed as: subsp. nov.

Etymology: de.fen’dens. L. part. adj. defendens, defending, guarding, protecting, referring to the fact that strains have an active CRISPR/Cas system which guards or controls against foreign mobile genetic elements

Gender: neuter

Type strain: ATCC 11828; CCUG 6369; JCM 6473

See detailed strain information at

Conduct genome-based taxonomy at

16S rRNA gene: AB573714 Analyse FASTA

Valid publication: McDowell A, Barnard E, Liu J, Li H, Patrick S. Emendation of Propionibacterium acnes subsp. acnes (Deiko et al. 2015) and proposal of Propionibacterium acnes type II as Propionibacterium acnes subsp. defendens subsp. nov. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2016; 66:5358-5365.

IJSEM list: Oren A, Garrity GM. Notification list. Notification that new names and new combinations have appeared in volume 66, part 12 of the IJSEM. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2017; 67:525-528.

Nomenclatural status: validly published under the ICNP

Taxonomic status: synonym

Correct name: Cutibacterium acnes subsp. defendens (McDowell et al. 2016) Nouioui et al. 2018

Risk group: 2

• Synonyms:

  • Name	Kind
    Cutibacterium acnes subsp. defendens (McDowell et al. 2016) Nouioui et al. 2018	homotypic synonym, validly published under the ICNP

• Notes:
  • 😩 Deposits incorrectly indicated in some sources as representing the type strain of this taxon: ATCC 6919; CCUG 1794; DSM 1897; JCM 6425; NCTC 737.
  • ❗ Propionibacterium acnes subsp. defendens is the correct name instead if this subspecies is regarded as a separate subspecies (i.e., if its nomenclatural type is not assigned to another subspecies whose name is validly published, legitimate and not rejected and has priority) within a separate species Propionibacterium acnes within a separate genus Propionibacterium.
  • 😷 The risk group for Germany has been imported on 2023-10-29. The full classification is: risk group = 2, note = "TA".
  • 🧍 The phylogenetic position of this subspecies 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.

Parent taxon: Propionibacterium acnes (Gilchrist 1900) Douglas and Gunter 1946 (Approved Lists 1980)

Assigned by: McDowell A, Barnard E, Liu J, Li H, Patrick S. Emendation of Propionibacterium acnes subsp. acnes (Deiko et al. 2015) and proposal of Propionibacterium acnes type II as Propionibacterium acnes subsp. defendens subsp. nov. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2016; 66:5358-5365.

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Record number: 794881