Evidence of Taxonomic Bias in Public Databases: The Example of the Genus Borrelia

Authors

• Gabriele Margos, National Reference Center for Borrelia, Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority, Veterinärstr, 2, Oberschleissheim 85764, Germany; ESGBOR, European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Study Group for Lyme Borreliosis. Electronic address: gmargos1@gmail.com.
• Gary P. Wormser, Division of Infectious Diseases, New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY 10595, USA.Follow
• Ira Schwartz, Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY 10595, USA.Follow
• Mateusz Markowicz, AGES - Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety, Vienna 1090, Austria; ESGBOR, European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Study Group for Lyme Borreliosis.
• Anna J. Henningsson, ESGBOR, European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Study Group for Lyme Borreliosis; Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Division of Inflammation and Infection, Linköping University, Sweden; Department of Clinical Microbiology in Jönköping, Region Jönköping County, Linköping University, Sweden; Department of Clinical Microbiology in Linköping, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
• Reto Lienhard, ESGBOR, European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Study Group for Lyme Borreliosis; Swiss National Reference Centre for Tick-Transmitted Diseases, Switzerland; ADMED Microbiologie, La Chaux-de-Fonds 2300, Switzerland.
• Brian Stevenson, Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington, Kentucky 40536, USA.
• Agustín Estrada-Peña, Department of Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, and Instituto Agroalimentario de Aragón (IA2), University of Zaragoza, Spain.
• Andreas Sing, National Reference Center for Borrelia, Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority, Veterinärstr, 2, Oberschleissheim 85764, Germany; ESGBOR, European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Study Group for Lyme Borreliosis.
• Volker Fingerle, National Reference Center for Borrelia, Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority, Veterinärstr, 2, Oberschleissheim 85764, Germany; ESGBOR, European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Study Group for Lyme Borreliosis.
• Markus Göker, Leibniz Institute DSMZ - German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Inhoffenstrasse 7B, Braunschweig D-38124, Germany. Electronic address: markus.goeker@dsmz.de.

Author Type(s)

Faculty

DOI

10.1016/j.ttbdis.2022.101994

Journal Title

Ticks and Tick-Borne Diseases

First Page

101994

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-1-2022

Department

Medicine

Second Department

Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology

Keywords

Bacterial taxonomy, Borrelia, Borreliella, GenBank, Lyme borreliosis, Lyme disease, Nomenclature

Disciplines

Medicine and Health Sciences

Abstract

The taxon names used in public databases are of critical importance in all areas of biology because they are needed for linking organisms to sequence data and other information. Since most users of taxonomic classifications may be unprepared for dealing with synonyms, the names that are preferred in such databases are of high impact. Using the genus Borrelia as an example, we here show how simplistic approaches for determining the preferred synonym may lead to biases regarding the preferences for taxonomic opinions. We highlight that in this and other cases where genera were split, for reverting to the previous "merged" genus it is neither possible nor necessary to generate validly published and legitimate names that are newer than those that were proposed as new combinations when the genus was split. The policy to always prefer the latest validly published name in a public database may thus render this database oblivious to reversals in taxonomic opinion. We emphasize that users of public databases should be aware of such potential shortcomings, and that curators of databases which provide nomenclatural information should be open-minded about taxonomic views expressed in the literature.

Recommended Citation

Margos, G., Wormser, G. P., Schwartz, I., Markowicz, M., Henningsson, A. J., Lienhard, R., Stevenson, B., Estrada-Peña, A., Sing, A., Fingerle, V., & Göker, M. (2022). Evidence of Taxonomic Bias in Public Databases: The Example of the Genus Borrelia. Ticks and Tick-Borne Diseases, 13 (5), 101994. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ttbdis.2022.101994