''Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology'' is the main resource for determining the identity of prokaryotic organisms, emphasizing

bacteria Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of Prokaryote, prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micr ...

l species, using every characterizing aspect. The manual was published subsequent to ''Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology'', though the latter is still published as a guide for identifying unknown bacteria. First published in 1923 by

David Hendricks Bergey David Hendricks Bergey (1860-1937) was an American bacteriologist. He studied at University of Pennsylvania, where he obtained his Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Medicine degrees in 1884. He practiced medicine in North Wales, Pennsylvania, unti ...

, it is used to classify bacteria based on their structural and functional attributes by arranging them into specific familial orders. However, this process has become more

empirical Empirical evidence is evidence obtained through sense experience or experimental procedure. It is of central importance to the sciences and plays a role in various other fields, like epistemology and law. There is no general agreement on how t ...

in recent years. The ''Taxonomic Outline of Bacteria and Archaea'' is a derived publication indexing taxon names from version two of the manual. It used to be available for free from the Bergey's manual trust website until September 2018.

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

provides an alternative version that indexes NamesforLife records. The five-volume BMSB is officially replaced by ''Bergey's Manual of Systematics of Archaea and Bacteria'' (BMSAB), a continuously-updated online book, since 2015.

Organization

The change in volume set to "''Systematic Bacteriology''" came in a new contract in 1980, whereupon the new style included "relationships between organisms" and had "expanded scope" overall. This new style was picked up for a four-volume set that first began publishing in 1984. The information in the volumes was separated as: ''Volume 1'' included information on all types of

Gram-negative bacteria Gram-negative bacteria are bacteria that, unlike gram-positive bacteria, do not retain the Crystal violet, crystal violet stain used in the Gram staining method of bacterial differentiation. Their defining characteristic is that their cell envelo ...

that were considered to have "medical and industrial importance." ''Volume 2'' included information on all types of

Gram-positive bacteria In bacteriology, gram-positive bacteria are bacteria that give a positive result in the Gram stain test, which is traditionally used to quickly classify bacteria into two broad categories according to their type of cell wall. The Gram stain ...

. ''Volume 3'' deals with all of the remaining, slightly different Gram-negative bacteria, along with the

Archaea Archaea ( ) is a Domain (biology), domain of organisms. Traditionally, Archaea only included its Prokaryote, prokaryotic members, but this has since been found to be paraphyletic, as eukaryotes are known to have evolved from archaea. Even thou ...

. ''Volume 4'' has information on filamentous

actinomycetes The Actinomycetales is an Scientific classification, order of Actinomycetota. A member of the order is often called an actinomycete. Actinomycetales are generally Gram-positive bacteria, gram-positive and anaerobic and have mycelia in a filamento ...

and other, similar bacteria. The current volumes differ drastically from previous volumes in that many higher taxa are not defined in terms of phenotype, but solely on 16S phylogeny, as is the case of the classes within Proteobacteria. The current grouping is: * Volume 1 (2001): The

and the deeply branching and phototrophic Bacteria * Volume 2 (2005): The Proteobacteria—divided into three books: ** 2A: Introductory essays ** 2B: The

Gammaproteobacteria ''Gammaproteobacteria'' is a class of bacteria in the phylum ''Pseudomonadota'' (synonym ''Proteobacteria''). It contains about 250 genera, which makes it the most genus-rich taxon of the Prokaryotes. Several medically, ecologically, and scienti ...

** 2C: Other classes of Proteobacteria * Volume 3 (2009): The Firmicutes * Volume 4 (2011): The Bacteroidetes,

Spirochaetes A spirochaete () American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, or spirochete is a member of the phylum (biology), phylum Spirochaetota (also called Spirochaetes ), which contains distinctive diderm bacteria, diderm (double-memb ...

, Tenericutes (Mollicutes), Acidobacteria, Fibrobacteres, Fusobacteria, Dictyoglomi, Gemmatimonadetes, Lentisphaerae, Verrucomicrobia, Chlamydiae, and Planctomycetes * Volume 5 (in two parts) (2012): The Actinobacteria

Bergey's Manual Trust

Bergey's Manual Trust was established in 1936 to sustain the publication of '' Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology'' and supplementary reference works. The Trust also recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to bacterial taxonomy by presentation of the Bergey Award and Bergey Medal, jointly supported by funds from the Trust and from Springer, the publishers of the Manual. Bergey's Manual Trust and John Wiley & Sons, Inc. co-publish the online encyclopedia '' Bergey's Manual of Systematics of Archaea and Bacteria'' (BMSAB). On 2019, the Trust decided to include phylogenomic in the BMSAB using the classification provided by the

Genome Taxonomy Database The Genome Taxonomy Database (GTDB) is an online database that maintains information on a proposed nomenclature of prokaryotes, following a phylogenomic approach based on a set of conserved single-copy proteins. In addition to resolving parap ...

(GTDB).

Critical reception

The ''

Annals of Internal Medicine ''Annals of Internal Medicine'' is an academic medical journal published by the American College of Physicians (ACP). It is one of the most widely cited and influential specialty medical journals in the world. ''Annals'' publishes content releva ...

'' described the volumes as "clearly written, precise, and easy to read" and "particularly designed for those interested in taxonomy.""Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology"
''Book Reviews, Notes, and Listings'',

Editions

''Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology''

* Bergey, D.H., Harrison, F.C., Breed, R.S., Hammer, B.W. & Huntoon, F.M. (eds., 1923). ''Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology'', 1st ed., The Williams & Wilkins Co, Baltimore, 442 p. * Bergey, D.H., Harrison, F.C., Breed, R.S., Hammer, B.W. & Huntoon, F.M. (eds., 1925). ''Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology'', 2nd ed., The Williams & Wilkins Co, Baltimore, 462 p. * Bergey, D.H., Harrison, F.C., Breed, R.S., Hammer, B.W. & Huntoon, F.M. (eds., 1930). ''Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology'', 3rd., The Williams and Wilkins Co., Baltimore, 589 p. * Bergey, D.H., Breed, R.S., Hammer, B.W., Huntoon, F.M., Murray, E.G.D. & Harrison, F.C. (eds., 1934). ''Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology'', 4th ed., The Williams & Wilkins Co, Baltimore. * Bergey, D.H., Breed, R.S., Murray, E.G.D. & Hitchens, A.P. (eds., 1939). ''Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology'', 5th ed., The Williams and Wilkins Co., Baltimore. * Breed, R.S., Murray, E.G.D. & Hitchens, A.P. (eds., 1948). ''Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology'', 6th ed., The Williams and Wilkins Co., Baltimore

* Breed, R.S., Murray, E.G.D. & Smith, N.R. (eds., 1957). ''Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology'', 7th ed., The Williams and Wilkins Co., Baltimore

* Buchanan, R.E. & Gibbons, N.R. (eds., 1974). ''Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology'', 8th ed., Williams & Wilkins. Baltimore. * Holt, John G. (eds., 1994). ''Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology'', 9th ed., Williams & Wilkins. Baltimore. .

''Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology'', 1st ed.

* Krieg, N.R. & Holt, J.G. (eds., 1984). ''Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology'', 1st ed., vol. 1, Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore. * Sneath, P.H.A., Mair, N.S., Sharpe, M.E. & Holt, J.G. (eds., 1986). ''Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology'', 1st ed., vol. 2, Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore. * Staley, J.T., Bryant, M.P., Pfennig, N. & Holt, J.G. (eds., 1989). ''Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology'', 1st ed., vol. 3, Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore. * Williams, S.T., Sharpe, M.E. & Holt, J.G. (eds., 1989). ''Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology'', 1st ed., vol. 4, Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore.

''Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology'', 2nd ed.

* Garrity, G.M., Boone, D.R. & Castenholz, R.W. (eds., 2001). ''Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology'', 2nd ed., vol. 1, Springer-Verlag, New York, NY * Brenner, D.J., Krieg, N.R., Staley, J.T. & Garrity, G.M. (eds., 2005). ''Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology'', 2nd ed., vol. 2, parts A, B and C, Springer-Verlag, New York, NY. * Vos, P., Garrity, G., Jones, D., Krieg, N.R., Ludwig, W., Rainey, F.A., Schleifer, K.-H. & Whitman, W.B. (eds., 2009). ''Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology'', 2nd ed., vol. 3, Springer-Verlag, New York, NY. * Krieg, N.R., Ludwig, W., Whitman, W.B., Hedlund, B.P., Paster, B.J., Staley, J.T., Ward, N. & Brown, D. (eds., 2010). ''Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology'', 2nd ed., vol. 4, Springer-Verlag, New York, NY. * Whitman, W.B., Goodfellow, M., Kämpfer, P., Busse, H.-J., Trujillo, M.E., Ludwig, W. & Suzuki, K.-i. (eds., 2012). ''Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology'', 2nd ed., vol. 5, parts A and B, Springer-Verlag, New York, NY.

Other

* Buchanan, R.E., Holt, J.G. & Lessel Jr, E.F. (1966). ''Index Bergeyana: An Annotated Alphabetic Listing of Names of the Taxa of the Bacteria''. The Williams and Wilkins Co., Baltimore, Md. * Holt, J.G. (ed., 1977). ''The Shorter Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology'', 8th ed., The Williams and Wilkins Co., Baltimore, Md. * Gibbons, N.E., Pattee, K.B. & Holt, J.G. (eds., 1981). ''Supplement to Index Bergeyana''. The Williams and Wilkins Co., Baltimore, Md. *

References

External links

Bergey's Manual Trust Home PageBergey's Manual Identification Flow ChartsBook Information
{{Bacteria classification Bacteriology