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Minute 1. Call to order.
The closed meeting was held at 18 : 00 on Tuesday 20 September 2011 at Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Mérida, México, in conjunction with the 7th meeting of the International Leptospirosis Society. The meeting was called to order by the Chairman, Lee Smythe.
Minute 2. Record of attendance.
The members present were Ben Adler, Roderick Chappel, and Rudy Hartskeerl. Renee Galloway and Mathieu Picardeau were in attendance as observers. Paul Levett (Secretary) and Lee Smythe (Chairman) participated via internet video link.
Minute 3. Apologies for absence.
Apologies were received from Richard Zuerner.
Minute 4. Minutes of the previous meeting.
The minutes of the meeting held in Cochin, India in 2009 have been published [Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 61 (2011), 698–699].
Minute 5. Membership and Office Holders.
Both the Chairman and the Secretary indicated their willingness to continue in office. The subcommittee discussed the desirability of having face to face meetings, but recognized that external constraints prevented some members from attending the meeting in person, and accepted that a member who participated via internet video link would be regarded as present. Renee Galloway and Mathieu Picardeau were elected as new members of the subcommittee. Members of the subcommittee agreed to seek out suitable new members to ensure continuity as older members retired from the committee in the near future.
Minute 6. Deposition of type strains in international culture collections.
Paul Levett (Secretary) has advised the ICSP and the editors of IJSEM of the subcommittee’s recommendation that type or reference strains of all novel species or serovars be deposited with all WHO Collaborating Centres.
Minute 7. Revision of the book Classification of the species Leptospira interrogans and history of its serovars by Kmety & Dikken.
Rudy Hartskeerl reported that the text is complete and the web pages are being prepared. The book should be available on the internet in 2012.
Minute 8. Update on naming of Leptospira species 1, 3, 4 and 5.
The manuscript ‘Classification of Leptospira genomospecies 1, genomospecies 3, genomospecies 4 and genomospecies 5 as Leptospira alstonii sp. nov., Leptospira vanthielii sp. nov., Leptospira terpstrae sp. nov., Leptospira yanagawae sp. nov.’ was being revised for submission a third time. One of the type cultures submitted to ATCC was not viable, and Renee Galloway had agreed to resubmit the culture from CDC.
Minute 9. Update on revision of MLST system.
Rudy Hartskeerl outlined the current status, where two main MLST systems had been described, in addition to several other approaches in a more limited way. It was difficult to arrive at a consensus. At the time of the meeting, a paper on the comparison of the two major MSLT schemes was in press [PLoS Negl Trop Dis (2011) 5(11): e1374].
Minute 10. Role of the subcommittee.
Members recognized that the role of the subcommittee had changed in recent years, particularly since the inception of the International Leptospirosis Society. Scientific papers were now presented at the main meeting of the ILS, and there was little need for formal discussion of data at the subcommittee meetings. It was agreed that the terms of reference of the subcommittee should be reviewed.
Minute 11. Minimum criteria for species definition.
Currently, DNA hybridization determination is the standard test for Leptospira species definition. This approach is tedious and its execution restricted to the laboratory at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. The subcommittee agreed that other, more generally applicable, molecular tools should be considered for substituting the DNA hybridization test. Rudy Hartskeerl and Mathieu Picardeau agreed to prepare a proposal on alternative approaches to be discussed and decided upon at the next subcommittee meeting. The Leptospira serovar is a serological entity that is characterized by the standard cross-agglutinin absorption test (CAAT). Pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) identification largely coincides with the status of serovars and, therefore, is increasingly claimed as a suitable substitute for serovar identification. However, whole genome-based molecular techniques such as PFGE reflect genome plasticity, which is not a determinant of serovar variety per se. Therefore, the subcommittee agreed that PFGE and other such whole-genome characterization approaches should not serve, or be claimed as, alternatives to the serological determination of serovars.
Minute 12. Recognition of new species and serovars.
No new species or serovars were awaiting recognition.
Minute 13. Current membership.
The current membership of the subcommittee is as follows: Lee Smythe (Chairman), Brisbane, Australia; Paul Levett (Secretary), Regina, Canada; Ben Adler, Melbourne, Australia; Roderick Chappel, Melbourne, Australia; Renee Galloway, Atlanta, USA, Rudy Hartskeerl, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Mathieu Picardeau, Paris, France; and Richard Zuerner, Uppsala, Sweden.
Minute 14. Date and venue of the next meeting.
The next meeting will take place at the 8th meeting of the International Leptospirosis Society, to be held in Fukuoka, Japan in October 2013.
Minute 15. Adjournment.
The meeting was adjourned at 19 : 00 on 20 September 2011.