Very unfortunately, today we report the sad news of the passing away last night of our friend, colleague and Subcommittee member Gisèle Laguerre. She was fighting against lung cancer, diagnosed in August. She was only 55. We will miss her very much! We want to express our support to her family and her colleagues at the LSTM in Montpellier.

In two interesting papers, the group leaded by Dr. Fatima Moreira (Universidade Federal de Lavras, Campus UFLA, Lavras, Minas Gerais, Brazil), in collaboration with Dr. Peter Vandamme (Laboratory of Microbiology, Universiteit Gent, Ghent, Belgium) reports on the symbiotic N2-fixing capacity of Burkholderia contaminans, B. fungorum and B. lata on different hosts (Phaseolus vulgaris, Indigofera suffruticosa, Macroptilium atropurpureum and Pithecellobium sp.) growing in the Brazilian Amazon region (PUMBMED).

In two recent papers, Sheu S.Y. and colleagues describe two new species in the genus Burkholderia isolated from N2-fixing root nodules of Mimosa spp. The novel species are: Burkholderia diazotrophica sp. nov., [type strain, JPY461T (=LMG 26031T=BCRC 80259T=KCTC 23308T)] and Burkholderia symbiotica sp. nov. [type strain JPY345T (=LMG 26032T=BCRC 80258T=KCTC 23309T)].

Ardley et al. have recently proposed three novel  Microvirga species, namely: Microvirga lupini (Lut6T = LMG26460T, = HAMBI 3236) Microvirga lotononidis (WSM3557T = LMG26455T, = HAMBI 3237) and Microvirga zambiensis (WSM3693T = LMG26454T, = HAMBI 3238), which correspond to nitrogen-fixing rhizobia. Read more about this interesting finding in their paper: "Ardley JK, Parker MA, De Meyer SE, Trengove RD, O'Hara GW, Reeve WG, Yates RJ, Dilworth MJ, Willems A, Howieson JG. Microvirga lupini sp. nov., Microvirga lotononidis sp. nov., and Microvirga zambiensis sp. nov. are Alphaproteobacterial root nodule bacteria that specifically nodulate and fix nitrogen with geographically and taxonomically separate legume hosts. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol. 2011 Dec 23. [Epub ahead of print]". PubMed PMID: 22199210 .

In a recent paper, (Mainaud et al. 2012, sp. nov. Syst Appl Microbiol. 2012 Mar;35(2):65-72. Epub 2012 Jan 4.), Mainaud and colleagues isolated Aminobacter strains from the nodules of Anthyllis vulneraria growing in Zn–Pb mine tailings. These Aminobacter isolates exhibited nodA sequences tightly related with M. loti as the closest nodA relative. The novel bacterial strains efficient on A. vulneraria represented the first occurrence of legume symbionts in the genus Aminobacter. Furthermore, they represent a new species for which the name Aminobacter anthyllidis sp. nov. is proposed (type strain STM4645T = LMG26462T = CFBP7437T).

The ICSP Subcommittee Rhizobial Taxonomy site was updated. The layout was improved and expanded, with a right column bar that features popular contet and recent blog entries. But more importantly, the page on taxa standing in nomencalture has been thoroughly revised and updated. The validly published taxa in "classic alpha-rhizobial" genera will from now on be automatically updated by means of a Perl script. "Non-classic" or not so well known rhizobial taxa and novel, not-yet validated rhizobial species, are also included in the list, and updated on a monthly schedule. These taxa are retrieved using an automated PUBMED search.

A few general guidelines on good taxonomic and systematic practice have been posted on September 30th 2007. A major update of the site was also performed.

The second phylogeny tutorial has been added to the site, this time on model fitting.