A plea for caution before changing bacterial names in databases

Aimee Ward

Since taxonomy is a human concept make to make the identification of organisms easier, its agreeable to actually make it easier.

Tatiana Stratulat

As a biotechnologist working with bacterial strains, stable nomenclature is essential for reliable strain identification, data traceability, and reproducibility of research.

Ihsanawati Ihsanawati

I agree with this plea, not to create other problem

Franca Rossi

Bacterial names are not only for taxonomista but also for medical and veterinary professionals who must rely on consistency in taxon identification in clinical samples in different historical periods

Muhammad Asif

Changing name should be avoided

Jan Gawor

I support this initiative. As a biotechnologist and microbiologist I must say that consistent nomenclature is essential in my field.

Lance van der Merwe

I am a Microbiology student and frequently use these databases, and any unnecessary change would be detrimental not just to my projects and workflow, but also have a massive impact on the workings of major clinical corporations

Daniel W

Many users of scientific names of bacteria, not least in the fields of human and veterinary medicine, complain about frequent changes to these names. The problem seems to occur more often in public databases than in the literature. The petition attempts to persuade these databases to take a more cautious approach.

Roland Sohmen

Communication between scientist of different fields will be serious hampered if frequent changes of bacterial names happens, especially in the field of medicine and occupatioanal health, e.g. Chlamydia to Chlamydophilia to Chlamydia. Candia auris to Candidozymas auris

Harriet Wilson

Rapid and accurate communication is essential for medical practitioners, while keeping pace with changes in prokaryotic taxonomy is not.

Dana Nováková

Taxon names change too frequently, and this adds no value.

John Turnidge

I have responsibility for certain documents created by EUCAST. Name changes are a constant headache

Sandro Furini

Consultazione affidabile.

Lesley Hoyles

Different taxonomic frameworks across LPSN, NCBI/EMBL/DDBJ and GTDB are causing big problems across (meta)genomic and cultivation studies. In a number of instances we've given up trying to describe novel species and validly publish names - especially for rare taxa - because life is too short and hands are too few to wade through the mess.

Olga Shapovalova

Since I work as a medical microbiology teacher

Anja Breuker

There has been an inflation of changing prokaryotic names.

Thøger Jensen

The latest taxonomical synonym is often not more correct than a previous valid published name.

Hidetoshi Urakawa

Taxonomy should facilitate scientific communication, not create confusion. The replacement of many long-established bacterial names has made microbiology increasingly difficult to follow, especially because textbooks have not yet adopted these revisions. Restoring widely recognized names, or retaining them as valid synonyms, would improve continuity and should be considered before updating bacterial names in public databases.

Fabian Bastiaanssen

Without these kinds of policies databases become useless to search by name alone

Clament Chin

For the future of bacteriology and microbiology.