Biomaterial Database

Classification of the Legionnaires' disease bacterium: Legionella pneumophila, genus novum, species nova, of the family Legionellaceae, familia nova. 1979

D J Brenner, and A G Steigerwalt, and J E McDade

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) relatedness was used to classify strains of the Legionnaires' disease (LD) bacterium. These DNA comparisons showed that all strains of the LD bacterium were members of the same species. Included were strains isolated from the environment and strains with three different O-antigens. The DNA from the LD bacterium was not significantly related to DNA from any other group of bacteria that was tested. Biochemical data, growth characteristics, and guanine-plus-cytosine ratios were used to rule out the possibility that the LD bacterium was significantly related to members of genera whose DNA was not tested. In view of these data we propose that the LD bacterium be named Legionella pneumophila species nova, the type species of Legionella, genus novum. The type strain of L. pneumophila is Philadelphia 1.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007877	Legionnaires' Disease	An acute, sometimes fatal, pneumonia-like bacterial infection characterized by high fever, malaise, muscle aches, respiratory disorders and headache. It is named for an outbreak at the 1976 Philadelphia convention of the American Legion.	Legionella pneumophila Infections,Infections, Legionella pneumophila,Legionnaire Disease,Pontiac Fever,Disease, Legionnaire,Disease, Legionnaires',Fever, Pontiac,Infection, Legionella pneumophila,Legionella pneumophila Infection,Legionnaire's Disease,Legionnaires Disease
D009626	Terminology as Topic	Works about the terms, expressions, designations, or symbols used in a particular science, discipline, or specialized subject area.	Etymology,Nomenclature as Topic,Etymologies
D009693	Nucleic Acid Hybridization	Widely used technique which exploits the ability of complementary sequences in single-stranded DNAs or RNAs to pair with each other to form a double helix. Hybridization can take place between two complimentary DNA sequences, between a single-stranded DNA and a complementary RNA, or between two RNA sequences. The technique is used to detect and isolate specific sequences, measure homology, or define other characteristics of one or both strands. (Kendrew, Encyclopedia of Molecular Biology, 1994, p503)	Genomic Hybridization,Acid Hybridization, Nucleic,Acid Hybridizations, Nucleic,Genomic Hybridizations,Hybridization, Genomic,Hybridization, Nucleic Acid,Hybridizations, Genomic,Hybridizations, Nucleic Acid,Nucleic Acid Hybridizations
D003596	Cytosine	A pyrimidine base that is a fundamental unit of nucleic acids.
D004269	DNA, Bacterial	Deoxyribonucleic acid that makes up the genetic material of bacteria.	Bacterial DNA
D006147	Guanine
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000942	Antigens, Bacterial	Substances elaborated by bacteria that have antigenic activity.	Bacterial Antigen,Bacterial Antigens,Antigen, Bacterial
D001419	Bacteria	One of the three domains of life (the others being Eukarya and ARCHAEA), also called Eubacteria. They are unicellular prokaryotic microorganisms which generally possess rigid cell walls, multiply by cell division, and exhibit three principal forms: round or coccal, rodlike or bacillary, and spiral or spirochetal. Bacteria can be classified by their response to OXYGEN: aerobic, anaerobic, or facultatively anaerobic; by the mode by which they obtain their energy: chemotrophy (via chemical reaction) or PHOTOTROPHY (via light reaction); for chemotrophs by their source of chemical energy: CHEMOLITHOTROPHY (from inorganic compounds) or chemoorganotrophy (from organic compounds); and by their source for CARBON; NITROGEN; etc.; HETEROTROPHY (from organic sources) or AUTOTROPHY (from CARBON DIOXIDE). They can also be classified by whether or not they stain (based on the structure of their CELL WALLS) with CRYSTAL VIOLET dye: gram-negative or gram-positive.	Eubacteria