Reclassification of Thermoproteus neutrophilus Stetter and Zillig 1989 as Pyrobaculum neutrophilum comb. nov. based on phylogenetic analysis.

The hyperthermophilic crenarchaeon Thermoproteus neutrophilus V24Sta(T) was originally classified before sequence-based phylogenetic analysis became standard for bacterial taxonomy. Subsequent phylogenetic analyses by various groups have shown that strain V24Sta(T) groups more closely with strains of the genus Pyrobaculum than with those in the genus Thermoproteus. Based on phylogenetic comparison of rRNA gene sequences and ribosomal proteins, we propose that strain V24Sta(T) be reclassified as Pyrobaculum neutrophilum comb. nov., with the type strain V24Sta(T) ( = DSM 2338(T) = JCM 9278(T)). An emended description of the genus Pyrobaculum is also presented.