Parvicella tangerina gen. nov., sp. nov. (Parvicellaceae fam. nov., Flavobacteriales), first cultured representative of the marine clade UBA10066, and Lysobacter luteus sp. nov., from activated sludge of a seawater-processing wastewater treatment plant.

Two strains isolated from a sample of activated sludge that was obtained from a seawater-based wastewater treatment plant on the southeastern Mediterranean coast of Spain have been characterized to achieve their taxonomic classification, since preliminary data suggested they could represent novel taxa. Given the uniqueness of this habitat, as this sort of plants are rare in the world and this one used seawater to process an influent containing intermediate products from amoxicillin synthesis, we also explored their ecology and the annotations of their genomic sequences. Analysis of their 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that one of them, which was orange-pigmented, was distantly related to Vicingus serpentipes (family Vicingaceae) and to other representatives of neighbouring families in the order Flavobacteriales (class Flavobacteriia) by 88-89 % similarities; while the other strain, which was yellow-pigmented, was a putative new species of Lysobacter (family Xanthomonadaceae, order Xanthomonadales, class Gammaproteobacteria) with Lysobacter arseniciresistens as closest relative (97.3 % 16S rRNA sequence similarity to its type strain). Following a polyphasic taxonomic approach, including a genome-based phylogenetic analysis and a thorough phenotypic characterization, we propose the following novel taxa: Parvicella tangerina gen. nov., sp. nov. (whose type strain is AS29M-1T=CECT 30217T=LMG 32344T), Parvicellaceae fam. nov. (whose type genus is Parvicella), and Lysobacter luteus sp. nov. (whose type strain is AS29MT=CECT 30171T=LMG 32343T).

Proposals to emend Rules 8, 15, 22, 25a, 30(3)(b), 30(4), 34a, and Appendix 7 of the International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes.

To complete the ongoing revision of the International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes, we here propose emendation of Rules 8, 15, 22, 25a, 30(3)(b), 30(4), 34a and Appendix 7. These proposed emendations deal with: the nomenclatural type of taxa above genus; the suitability of names published in supplementary material or in papers published on e-print servers for effective publication; the number of culture collection designations to be included in an effective publication of a name of a species or subspecies to qualify for validation of the name; the kinds of restrictions that may be attached to deposits of type strains; and the question whether elevation of a subspecies to the rank of species or lowering of a species to the rank of subspecies establish new combinations. Some of these emendations change the meaning of the Code while others are mere textual clarifications.

In silico evaluation of molecular probes for detection and identification of Ralstonia solanacearum and Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. sepedonicus.

Ralstonia solanacerum and Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. sepedonicus are the two most relevant bacterial pathogens of potato for which a large number of molecular diagnostic methods using specific DNA sequences have been developed. About one hundred oligonucleotides have been described and thoroughly tested experimentally. After having compiled and evaluated all these primers and probes in silico to check their specificity, many discrepancies were found. A detailed analysis permitted the recognition of different possible reasons for such discrepancies: sequencing errors in public sequences, wrong supposed specificity (sometimes due to more recent sequences than the oligonucleotides being evaluated) or even typing errors in the oligonucleotides. Although this study is an exercise about in silico evaluation using two potato bacterial pathogens as a model, the conclusions reflect not only information useful for phytopathologists but, in a broader scope, draw the main situations that can be found during an evaluation of probes, which can be surely found in other scenarios.