Abstract
Minute 3. Opening remarks by the Chairman.
The chairman opened the meeting with a special welcome and introduction for Dr Rudolph Rudy Hugh who was our honoured guest to help celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Subcommittee. Dr Hugh was present at the first subcommittee meeting in 1965, at which time Aeromonas was included within the Family Pseudomonadaceae, and had been invited to talk about the organization and early days of the subcommittee. In the open meeting he was to present a lecture – The Persistent Species Enigma to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Subcommittee.
Minute 4. Historical perspectives of the Subcommittee presented by R. Hugh in celebration of its 40th anniversary, 1965–2005.
The first meeting of the subcommittee was on January 29, 1965 in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, which makes it one of the oldest subcommittees of the ICSP. In the years preceding 1965 in its organizational stages, the subcommittee had only three members – J. C. Feeley, R. Hugh and R. Sakazaki. They were joined subsequently by S. Mukerjee and C. R. Manclark. With the exception of the latter, the other four held the first official meeting of the subcommittee on 29 January 1965 in Honolulu, Hawaii, with R. Hugh as Chairman and J. C. Feeley as Secretary. The minutes of the first subcommittee meeting were published in the International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology [16 (1966), 135–142] and are listed along with all the other published minutes on the subcommittee's internet site. Its name in 1965 was The Subcommittee on Taxonomy of Vibrios and many of the early discussions centred on the two important Vibrio species Vibrio cholerae and Vibrio eltor. There were heated discussions in the subcommittee and in the scientific community on whether these two organisms should be considered as the same or different species. R. Hugh passed out a paper he wrote and presented in 1965 Nomenclature and Taxonomy of Vibrio cholerae Pacini 1854 and Vibrio eltor Pribram 1933 (US Public Health Service, Proceedings of the Cholera Research Symposium, 1965) that critically examined several issues. A divided subcommittee voted that these two organisms should be included in the same species, but as distinct biogroups. This helped to settle the issue and was important in forming an operational definition for the two organisms which is now widely accepted.
R. Hugh told of some of the early meetings and accomplishments of the subcommittee which included: proposing neotype strains of V. cholerae and V. eltor (later affirmed by the Judicial Commission); forming definitions of the genus Vibrio and its species; commenting on the differentiation of Vibrio species from Aeromonas species, formulating better techniques for differentiating the many Vibrio species and biogroups, issuing majority and minority reports on issues being discussed, and using mail correspondence to discuss and then vote on important issues. Our subcommittee internet site provides the literature citations for the minutes of subcommittee meetings that provide additional historical insights. The Subcommittee Secretary has a large box of subcommittee papers including letters, questionnaires, notes, photographs, reprints, and similar historical items. The tradition had been and should remain to preserve this file for its historical significance.
Minute 5. Responses to a questionnaire that had been distributed to subcommittee members.
The Chairman had previously circulated via e-mail two drafts of proposed agendas as well a questionnaire to discuss pending issues or problems and other items for possible discussion. Seven of 15 subcommittee members responded with comments or answers to the questions proposed.
At the 2002 meeting in Paris J. J. Farmer had proposed (see Minute 8 of that meeting) that official subcommittee business such as formal discussions and votes be done by e-mail to allow more input and assure that each member had a voice in the final decision. This was in response to the limited funding for travel to international meetings, the most common venue for actual subcommittee meetings. It would also revive the long-standing practice of doing all votes by mail because of limited attendance at subcommittee meetings. All those that responded to the questionnaire agreed that e-mail was the best way to handle discussions and votes.
The issue was raised on the questionnaire whether a separate subcommittee should be formed to deal with Aeromonas and its closest relatives or whether these organisms should continue to be considered as part of the Vibrionaceae Subcommittee. Only one member voted for forming a separate Subcommittee for Aeromonas and its closest relatives. Thus there was almost complete agreement that the Vibrionaceae Subcommittee should continue to deal with the organisms that it has historically dealt with, but that are now included in two different families, Aeromonadaceae and Vibrionaceae. Also included would be related organisms, which could include the genus Plesiomonas, which until recently was considered to be in the family Vibrionaceae. This issue of the genus Plesiomonas will need to be co-ordinated with the Enterobacteriaceae Subcommittee because of proposed alternative classifications of Plesiomonas in that family.
The traditional name of the subcommittee has thus been the Vibrionaceae Subcommittee but, with the foregoing changes in classification a more appropriate name appeared to be one that included Aeromonadaceae and also related organisms. Two proposals had been made in a questionnaire submitted to the membership prior to the meeting. Members were asked to vote for their preference for one of two proposed new names: 1. The Subcommittee on the Taxonomy of Vibrionaceae and related organisms (Véron 1965); or 2. The Subcommittee on the Taxonomy of Aeromonadaceae, Vibrionaceae and related organisms. Though not unanimous, the majority vote was for the latter, which has become duly adopted as the current name of the subcommittee.
There was no clear majority agreement on the other issues presented on the questionnaire, thus no additional action was indicated at this time (see Open Meeting Minutes for discussion).
Minute 6. Approval of agenda.
The revised agenda was approved.
Minute 7. Minutes of the previous meetings held in Paris in 2002.
These had been approved, published [Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 55 (2005), 539–542], and listed on the subcommittee internet site ().
Minute 8. Current membership and officers.
G. B. Nair resigned as Secretary, and the Subcommittee expressed its sincere thanks for his service. J. J. Farmer and F. Thompson volunteered to be Secretary, but the latter was unable to attend the San Francisco meeting so J. J. Farmer will serve as Secretary.
Membership and officers are: B. Holmes (Chairman; UK), J. J. Farmer (Secretary; USA), R. R. Colwell (USA), A. J. Horneman (listed previously as Amy Martin-Carnahan; USA), Rudolph Hugh (Honorary member; USA), A. Huq (USA), G. Huys (Belgium), J. M. Janda (USA), Sam W. Joseph (USA), K. Kita-Tsukamoto (Japan), Y. Kosako (Japan), G. B. Nair (India), Ralph Schubert (Germany), S. Shinoda (Japan), H. Sørum (Norway), F. Thompson (Brazil) and A. Ventosa (Spain). They are listed on the subcommittee internet site which includes a reference to current affiliation and contact information ().
Three additional candidates have been submitted for consideration as future members of the subcommittee or one of its working groups. These were Jim Oliver, University of North Carolina, Charlotte (proposed by R. Colwell), Indrani Karunasagar, Mangalore, India (proposed by R. Colwell and G. B. Nair) and Tomoo Sawabe, Japan (proposed by K. Kita-Tsukamoto). It was proposed that, in the first instance, the Chair of the Vibrio working group, K. Kita-Tsukamoto, should invite them to membership of the group.
Minute 9. Report of the working group on Aeromonas taxonomy.
This report was given by B. Holmes on behalf of A. J. Horneman, the working group chair who was unable to attend.
Summary of the Minutes of the Aeromonas working group meeting held during the 8th International Aeromonas/Plesiomonas Symposium, Halifax, Nova Scotia, USA on June 17, 2005.