Rational Taxonomy of Yersinia pestis

Abstract

Plague is a zoonotic infection whose pathogenic agent has caused hundreds of million human deaths. A broad range of hosts and vectors, along with the geographical dispersion of natural plague foci characterized by different ecological conditions, contribute to the formation of the polytypic Y. pestis species, the result of selection of the genetic variants specific for certain natural foci. Through the efforts of a world consortium of scientists, a global coordinated phylogram of the SNP types of the plague pathogen has been developed. However, debates on the intraspecies Y. pestis taxonomy still continue on the vast Russian expanses. The work of a taxonomist has many specific, individual features, formed on the basis of individual experience. It is important in this kind of work to follow an old rule which requires that borders should be placed where they have been put by nature, and should not be put where nature has not put them. With that in mind, we suggest here the rational variant of the plague pathogen nomenclature constructed in accordance with the rules set out in the International Code of Bacterial Nomenclature and Evolutionary Taxonomy.