international Journal of Systematic Bacteriology (1 999), 49, 1695-1 700 Printed in Great Britain Phylogenetic evidence for reclassification of Calymmatobacterium granulomatis as Klebsiella granulomatis comb. nov. Jenny 5. Carter,’l2 Francis J. B~wden,~Ivan Ba~tian,~Garry M. Myers,’ K. S. Sriprakash’ and David J. Kemp’ Author for correspondence : David J. Kemp. Tel : + 6 18 8922 84 12. Fax : + 6 18 8927 5 187 e-mail :
[email protected] 1 Menzies School of Health By sequencing a total of 2089 bp of the 16s rRNA and phoE genes it was Research, Darwin, demonstratedthat Calymmatobacterium grandomatis (the causative Austra Iia organism of donovanosis) shows a high level of identity with Klebsiella * Centre for Indigenous species pathogenic to humans (Klebsiellapneumoniae, Klebsiella Natural and Cultural Resource Management, rhinoscleromatis). It is proposed that C. grandomatis should be reclassified as Faculty of Aboriginal and Klebsiella granulomatis comb. nov. An emended description of the genus Torres Strait Islander Klebsiella is given. Studies, Northern Territory University, Darwin, Australia 3 Institute of Medical and Keywords : Calymmatobacteriurn, Klebsiella, sequence data, phylogenetic inferences Veterinary Science, Adelaide, Australia 4 AIDS/STD Unit, Royal Darwin Hospital, Darwin, Australia Calymmatobacterium granulomatis is the presumed ganism (Richens, 1991) have prevented further char- causative agent of donovanosis, an important cause of acterization of this relationship. genital ulceration that occurs in small endemic foci in all continents except Europe and Antarctica. The name Non-cultivable pathogenic eubacteria have been C. granulomatis was originally given to the pleo- identified by PCR using primers targeting conserved morphic bacterium cultured from donovanosis lesions genes (Fredricks & Relman, 1996).