A consensus has developed among scientific experts that, given the genetic makeup of these bacteria, the current genus Lactobacillus was too diverse and did not conform to nomenclature conventions. In addition, it was important to divide the genus into functionally relevant groups that shared certain physiological, metabolic and lifestyle properties in order to facilitate functional and ecological studies on bacteria of this genus.
To solve this problem, 15 scientists from 12 different institutions and 7 countries came together, applying whole genome analysis to analyze each species of Lactobacillus. Scientists proposed a new classification of the genus Lactobacillus scattering the species of the Lactobacillaceaefamily under L. delbrueckii and Paralactobacillus and 23 novel genera (Zheng et al., 2020), based on several genetic approaches and markers (average nucleotide identity, average aminoacid identity, core-gene aminoacid identity, core genome phylogeny, signature genes and metabolic or ecologic criteria).
| Current name |
New name |
| Lactobacillus casei |
Lacticaseibacillus casei |
| Lactobacillus paracasei |
Lacticaseibacillus paracasei |
| Lactobacillus rhamnosus |
Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus |
| Lactobacillus plantarum |
Lactiplantibacillus plantarum |
| Lactobacillus brevis |
Levilactobacillus brevis |
| Lactobacillus salivarius |
Ligilactobacillus salivarius |
| Lactobacillus fermentum |
Limosilactobacillus fermentum |
| Lactobacillus reuteri |
Limosilactobacillus reuteri |
| Lactobacillus acidophilus |
Unchanged |
| Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus(aka Lactobacillus bulgaricus) |
Unchanged |
| Lactobacillus crispatus |
Unchanged |
| Lactobacillus gasseri |
Unchanged |
| Lactobacillus johnsonii |
Unchanged |
| Lactobacillus helveticus |
Unchanged |
Alberta University has created a very useful online tool to be able to search for the new species names from old ones.
For more information, you can consult the research article (Zheng et al., 2020) presenting the new taxonomy of Lactobacillus.
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Change in taxonomy of the genus Lactobacillus
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