THIS GORDIAN KNOT - THIS ACTINOMYCETOLOGY !
T.G.PRIDHAM
980 Looking Glass Lane, Las Vegas, NV 89110, USA
Code number: AC93003
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Having retired in 1981 I have been unable to keep up-to-date
on developments in Actinomycetales systematics until
recently. After reading all the articles, most more than once,
cited in the bibliography I am both delighted and
distressed!
Delighted at the sophistication of the advances made -
especially in molecular and biological approaches to
characterization and phylogeny - and to advances in other
approaches to characterization classification and naming of
isolates.
But, Distressed when contemplating the impact of all
these aspects on day-today operations of many who need guidance -
e.g., the high-school student, the university graduate
student, the quality control person in a manufacturing environment,
the environmental quality worker, the medical laboratory worker,
and all those not directly involved in fundamental research
in systematics.
What does one do to characterize and accurately name an
isolate in a pragmatic way?
To those members of the several subcommittees (McCarthy, 1992)
I ask you to read or re-read the articles cited and then place
yourself in the position of a young, energetic university graduate
student who has isolated and purified 25 isolates (mostly
Actinomycetales) and must IDENTIFY each for inclusion in his
or her doctoral thesis or in a manuscript to be submitted to a
scientific journal!
What, specifically, does this individual have to do to
assign a genus name and a species and subspecific epithet to each
isolate?
It appears to me that what is desperately needed is one
recognized source of precise methods and approaches that can
periodically (yearly) be updated (by the subcommittees?). A rather
lengthy timetable has been established for the several
subcommittees. Surely, this could be accomplished in a years time!
Accurate and reliable communication should be the goal.
In the 1960's, James Lyons and I had attempted to follow leads
of Gaylen Bradley at Virginia Commonwealth University. He had
pioneered some of the early molecular-biological work on
Actinomycetales. Lyons had spent about a week with Bradley
learning his procedures. Unfortunately equipment need and the press
of other research prevented our continuation along these lines.
Just prior to my retirement in 1981 I had begun thinking of plans
to carry out nucleic acid hybridizations with the 5 type strains
tested in my paper of 1976 and the 11 type strains tested in
Hutter's 1967 volume. Surely, I thought, if these very clear
morphological types are not different by such methods - nothing is!
And, if so, where do we go from there!?
It appears that Stackenbrandt and associates (Stackenbrandt,
1991; Stackenbrandt et al., 1991) have answered part of this
question and left traditional systematics with the question, where
do we go from there?
Certainly, the observations of fruiting cultures of
representatives of Actinomycetales, coupled with other
cultural and physiological characteristics, suggest recognizable
differences that can be communicated in pragmatic ways to others,
e.g., Streptomyces Waksman and Henrici 1943 and
Streptoverticillium Baldacci 1958. With increasing advances
in molecular-biological approaches traditional systematists are
faced with approaching "absolute truth" and the associated
pragmatics of identification and communication! What
comes to my mind at this point are questions concerning phylogeny,
identification, nomenclature and communication concerning other
life forms such as birds, or snakes, or the hundreds of form genera
of fungi. Aside from the pragmatic problems of equipment,
procedures and standard methods, our concepts of
characterization, identification and communication
will require much serious attention.
I suggest that someone now begin to give serious thought to
reconciliation of the present dilemma to meet the needs of the high
school student, the university student, the non-systematist
scientist, the inventor, the inspector in a variety of
manufacturing, medical and other fields, the teachers and
instructors in our schools, universities and citizens at all levels
of intellectual sophistication. And, what effect will all this have
on operations of the many patent offices concerned with microbial
patents of one kind or another?
Problems of nomenclature also present themselves. Hopefully
the seven International Subcommittees concerned with
Actinomycetales will take strong leadership along the
lines outlined by A.J.McCarthy in his report on Actinomycete
Systematics Subcommittees 1990-1998 (McCarthy, 1992). Perhaps
levels of identification can be developed as in my 1976 paper
(Pridham, 1976) to satisfy the needs of the many and varied
individuals interested in such matters.
Otherwise, we may have to call a cardinal - a blue bird!
REFERENCES
Beyazova, M. & M.P.Lechevalier (1992). Low-frequency
restriction fragment analysis of Frankia strains
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Buchanan, R.E., J.G.Holt & E.F.Lessel (1966). Index
Bergeyana. A Companion Volume to Bergey's Manual of Determinate
Bacteriology. The Williams & Wilkins Co., Baltimore
Cross, T. (1989). The Actinomycetes. II. Growth and
examination of actinomycetes - some guidelines. In: S.T.Williams,
M.E.Sharpe & J.G.Holt (eds.) Bergey's Manual of Systematic
Bacteriology. The Williams & Wilkins Co., Baltimore, Vol. 4,
pp. 2340-2345
Dietz, A. & D.W.Thayer (eds.) (1980). Actinomycete
Taxonomy. SIM Special Publ. No.6. Soc.Ind.Microbiol.,
Arlington, Virginia
Dietz, A. (1991). Minimum description of new taxa of
actinomycetes. Actinomycetes, 2: 4347
Gibbons, N.E. (1989). Reference collections Or bacteria -
the need and requirement for type strains (revised by P.H.A.Sneath
& S.P. Lapage). In: S.T.Williams, M.E.Sharpe & J.G. Holt (eds.)
Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology. The Williams &
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Gibbons, N.E., K.B.Pattee & J.G.Holt (eds.) (1981).
Supplement to Index Bergeyana. The Williams & Wilkins Co.,
Baltimore
Goodfellow, M. (1989). The Actinomycetes. I. Infrageneric
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Goodfellow, M. (1991). Identification of some mycolic acid
containing actinomycetes using fluorogenic probes based on 7-amino-
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Gottlieb, D. (1974). Order I. Actinomycetales
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Copyright 1993 C.E.T.A.
