Development of the SeqCode: A proposed nomenclatural code for uncultivated prokaryotes with DNA sequences as type

Over the last fifteen years, genomics has become fully integrated into prokaryotic systematics. The gen-omes of most type strains have been sequenced, genome sequence similarity is widely used for delin-eation of species, and phylogenomic methods are commonly used for classification of higher taxonomic ranks. Additionally, environmental genomics has revealed a vast diversity of as-yet -uncultivated taxa. In response to these developments, a new code of nomenclature, the Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes Described from Sequence Data (SeqCode), has been developed over the last two years to allow naming of Archaea and Bacteria using DNA sequences as the nomenclatural types. The SeqCode also allows naming of cultured organisms, including fastidious prokaryotes that cannot be deposited into culture collections. Several simplifications relative to the International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes (ICNP) are implemented to make nomenclature more accessible, easier to apply and more readily communicated. By simplifying nomenclature with the goal of a unified classifica-tion, inclusive of both cultured and uncultured taxa, the SeqCode will facilitate the naming of taxa in every biome on Earth, encourage the isolation and characterization of as-yet-uncultivated taxa, and pro-mote synergies between the ecological, environmental, physiological, biochemical, and molecular biolog-ical disciplines to more fully describe prokaryotes. (c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier GmbH. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Automated summary

Genomics has been fully integrated into prokaryotic systematics over the past fifteen years. The SeqCode has been developed to allow naming of Archaea and Bacteria using DNA sequences as the nomenclatural types, simplifying nomenclature and promoting synergies between different disciplines.