The suffix -bacter is in microbiology for many genera and is intended to mean "bacteria".

Meaning

Bacter is a

new Latin New Latin (also called Neo-Latin or Modern Latin) is the revival of Literary Latin used in original, scholarly, and scientific works since about 1500. Modern scholarly and technical nomenclature, such as in zoological and botanical taxonomy ...

(i.e. Modern Latin) term coined from

bacterium Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among ...

, which in turn derives from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

βακτήριον, meaning small staff (diminutive of βακτηρία). Consequently, it formally means "rod". It differs from the suffix ''-bacterium'' in grammatical gender, the former being male and the latter being neuter; this was decided in Juridical (or Judicial) Opinion n° 3 of the Bacteriological Code. Nevertheless, for historical reasons, two archaeal species finish in -bacter: ''

Methanobrevibacter In taxonomy, ''Methanobrevibacter'' is a genus of the Methanobacteriaceae.See the NCBIbr>webpage on Methanobrevibacter Data extracted from the The species within ''Methanobrevibacter'' are strictly anaerobic archaea that produce methane, for t ...

'' and ''

Methanothermobacter In taxonomy, ''Methanothermobacter'' is a genus of the Methanobacteriaceae.See the NCBIbr>webpage on Methanothermobacter Data extracted from the The species within this genus are thermophilic and grow best at temperatures between 55°C and 6 ...

''.

Usage

Juridical Opinion n° 2 in the Bacteriological Code discusses the declension of the word, given that authors differently assumed the genitive case of bacter to be ''bactris'' (3rd declension words of Latin origin ending in =ter), ''bacteri'' (2nd declension) or ''bacteris'' (3rd declension, used for words of

origin, such as

astris In Greek mythology, Astris (Ancient Greek: Ἀστρὶς) or Asteria was, in Nonnus's '' Dionysiaca'', one of the Heliades, daughters of Helios, either by the Oceanid Clymene or the Oceanid Ceto.Nonnus, ''Dionysiaca'' 26.351–355 She marri ...

). The Opinion opts for the latter: consequently, higher taxa are formed with the stem =bacter- and not =bactr-. In Juridical Opinion n° 3 it was established to be masculine. For example, ''

Campylobacter ''Campylobacter'' (meaning "curved bacteria") is a genus of Gram-negative bacteria. ''Campylobacter'' typically appear comma- or s-shaped, and are motile. Some ''Campylobacter'' species can infect humans, sometimes causing campylobacteriosis, a d ...

'' is a genus of ''

Campylobacterales The Campylobacterales are an order of Campylobacterota which make up the epsilon subdivision, together with the small family Nautiliaceae. They are Gram-negative. Most of the species are microaerophilic.Garrity, George M.; Brenner, Don J.; Krieg, ...

''. These rules were established so that the

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

s were paired with the correct gender as imposed by the Bacteriological Code and the correct higher taxon names were formed. An interesting effect of this is that the genus ''

Fibrobacter Fibrobacterota is a small bacterial phylum which includes many of the major rumen bacteria, allowing for the degradation of plant-based cellulose in ruminant animals. Members of this phylum were categorized in other phyla. The genus '' Fibrobac ...

'' gives its name both to the phylum ''

Fibrobacteres Fibrobacterota is a small bacterial phylum which includes many of the major rumen bacteria, allowing for the degradation of plant-based cellulose in ruminant animals. Members of this phylum were categorized in other phyla. The genus ''Fibrobact ...

'', which obeys Latin grammar, and to the class '' Fibrobacteria'', which follows the recommendation of using the suffix -iaSTACKEBRANDT (E.), RAINEY (F.A.) and WARD-RAINEY (N.L.): Proposal for a new hierarchic classification system, Actinobacteria classis nov. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol., 1997, 47, 479-491.

Genera

References

{{reflist bacter Bacterial taxonomy Biological nomenclature

Meaning

Usage

Genera

See also

References