Reclassification of Lactobacillus catenaformis (Eggerth 1935) Moore and Holdeman 1970 and Lactobacillus vitulinus Sharpe et al. 1973 as Eggerthia catenaformis gen. nov., comb. nov. and Kandleria vitulina gen. nov., comb. nov., respectively.

The development of molecular tools and in particular the use of 16S rRNA gene sequencing has had a profound effect on the taxonomy of many bacterial groups. Gram-positive organisms that encompass the genera Lactobacillus and Clostridium within the Firmicutes are examples of taxa that have undergone major revisions based on phylogenetic information. A consequence of these reorganizations is that a number of organisms are now recognized as being misclassified. Previous studies have demonstrated that Lactobacillus catenaformis and Lactobacillus vitulinus are phylogenetically unrelated to Lactobacillus sensu stricto, being placed within the Clostridia rRNA cluster XVII. Based on the phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic data presented, it is proposed that L. catenaformis and L. vitulinus be reclassified in two new genera, named respectively Eggerthia gen. nov., with the type species Eggerthia catenaformis gen. nov., comb. nov. (type strain DSM 20559(T) = ATCC 25536(T) = CCUG 48174(T) = CIP 104817(T) = JCM 1121(T)) and Kandleria gen. nov., with the type species Kandleria vitulina gen. nov., comb. nov. (type strain LMG 18931(T) = ATCC 27783(T) = CCUG 32236(T) = DSM 20405(T) = JCM 1143(T)).