Deoxyribonucleic Acid Relatedness of Proteus and Providencia Species

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Abstract
Deoxyribonucleic acid reassociation was used to determine relatedness among protei and providenciae and between these organisms and other members of the family Enterobacteriaceae. The results indicate the following. (i)Proteus mirabilis, Prot. morganii, and Providencia stuartii are homogeneous species. (ii) Prot. vulgaris, Prot. rettgeri, and Prov. alcalifaciens each contain more than one deoxyribonucleic acid relatedness group. (iii) A group of urea-positive strains previously called Prot. rettgeri biogroup 5 are, in fact, members of Prov. stuartii. (iv)Prot. myxofaciens is a valid species. (v) Protei are only distantly related to all other Enterobacteriaceae. Taxonomic revisions consistent with these observations are discussed. These include a proposal to place the currently recognized species of Proteus into one of three genera: The genus Proteus, containing Prot. mirabilis Hauser, Prot. vulgaris Hauser, and Prot. myxofaciens Cosenza and Podgwaite; a separate genus Morganella Fulton, for Prot. morganii (Winslow et al.) Yale; and the genus Providencia containing Prov. alcalifaciens (De Salles Gomes) Ewing, Prov. stuartii (Buttiaux et al.) Ewing, and Prov. rettgeri comb, nov.