Abstract
Minute 4. Last subcommittee meeting.
H. Christensen explained that the last meeting of the Subcommittee on the Pasteurellaceae had been held on 30 July 2002 at the IUMS conference in Paris but minutes had not been prepared from that meeting. A main decision from the meeting had been to circulate important matters of the subcommittee to its members by email. In addition, new prospective members were suggested (see below).
Minute 5. Changes in membership and election of officers.
During 2004, prospective members were elected by email and a new Chairman and Secretary were nominated for the subcommittee. This correspondence was initiated by the former Chairman, F. Dewhirst, and the former Secretary, M. Bisgaard. New members elected were T. Inzana, R. Davis, O. Gaillot, P. Kuhnert and H. Christensen. H. Christensen and P. Kuhnert were elected as Chair and Secretary, respectively. Both Chair and Secretary agreed to continue for one more term. Upon the election of a new Chairman, F. Dewhirst retired from the subcommittee. The subcommittee members thanked the former Chairman and Secretary for their much appreciated work. Two other members retired from the subcommittee, W. Frederiksen and M. Kilian. H. Christensen expressed the gratitude of the subcommittee and gave an extraordinary thank you to W. Frederiksen for his work on the subcommittee. Dr Frederiksen was a key person in taking the initiative to establish the subcommittee in 1981 and held the position of Secretary until 1994. The members regretted that M. Kilian decided to withdraw from the subcommittee, but expressed their great thanks to him for his contribution and for the work he has done for the subcommittee since 1982. At the end of 2004, N. Nørskov Lauritsen (Århus, Denmark) was selected as a prospective member and full membership has now been confirmed by the subcommittee.
Minute 6. Current membership.
The current membership of the subcommittee is as follows: H. Christensen (Copenhagen, Denmark) (Chairman), P. Kuhnert (Bern, Switzerland) (Secretary), R. Mutters (Marburg, Germany), M. Bisgaard (Copenhagen, Denmark), H.-J. Busse (Wien, Austria), P. Blackall (Moorooka, Australia), T. Inzana (Blacksburg, VA, USA), R. Davies (Glasgow, UK), O. Gaillot (Rennes, France) and N. Nørskov Lauritsen (Århus, Denmark).
Minute 7. Minimal standards.
It was decided to establish a working group consisting of H.-J. Busse, M. Bisgaard, P. Kuhnert and H. Christensen to define minimal standards for the description of novel taxa within the family. A basis for this should be the article by Christensen et al. [Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 51 (2001), 22212225], as well as articles describing minimal standards in other taxa, e.g. Flavobacteriaceae. Inclusion of housekeeping genes, the role of genomics, host-specificity and commercial identification systems were discussed. The draft established by this group will be confirmed by the other members of the subcommittee before publication. H.-J. Busse emphasized that the minimal standards should be really minimal in setting up guidelines for classifying and naming of novel species and he also emphasized that the minimal standards are only guidelines. R. Mutters mentioned the importance of having methodology-independent minimal standards to account for changes in methodology. H.-J. Busse recommended two sections of minimal standards, one with true minimal standards independent of methodology and another with more detailed examples of current methods.
Minute 8. Next meeting.
It was discussed whether formal subcommittee meetings should be held at IUMS meetings or at the Pasteurellaceae Conference (former HAP meetings). Argument for the latter is contact with the largest group of researchers within the Pasteurellaceae (T. Inzana). For the former, the IUMS conference provides the best contact with taxonomists within other bacterial groups (H.-J. Busse). It was decided to continue to have the formal meetings at the IUMS and informal meetings at the Pasteurellaceae Conference.
M. Bisgaard proposed by email that there should be an informal subcommittee meeting in Europe within the next year. In addition, he suggested that a monograph could be prepared from such a meeting, similar to the monographs published from the Copenhagen (1981) and Prague (1989) meetings. It was decided to work on a distinct concept for such a monograph. It was agreed that there is a need for such a book because of the many changes currently and recently seen within the Pasteurellaceae and that it should focus on the taxonomy of lesser known members. The principles used for classification and nomenclature could be outlined in more detail and included in such a book. T. Inzana announced that a book from the American Society for Microbiology is planned with a focus on pathogenic members of the Pasteurellaceae.
Minute 9. Varia.
The subcommittee confirmed that decisions could be taken by email and that this means of communication could be used formally by the subcommittee. However, all important correspondence exchanged this way should be summarized in the minutes of the ICSP Subcommittee meetings.
Minute 10. Adjournment.
The closed meeting was adjourned at 15 : 30 on 25 July 2005.