As previously announced, NCBI is continuing to improve our Taxonomy resource. The International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes (ICNP) recently introduced changes to the code of nomenclature that governs naming of prokaryotes. Following these changes, we are updating the higher-level classification of prokaryotes with the introduction of rank ‘kingdom’ and other changes for this group. The changes will first appear both in our legacy and new NCBI Datasets taxonomy browsers, followed by data records. This update affects every prokaryotic record and may impact some pipelines and tools using lineage and/or name recognition.
What’s new?
You will begin to see the following changes starting in October 2024, with the rollout continuing through December 2024:
- Updated lineage information for nearly all Bacteria and Archaea with no change at species or other ranks below phylum
- The following names will be introduced at rank ‘kingdom’:
- Nanobdellati (current name ‘DPANN group’)
- Thermoproteati (current name ‘TACK group’)
- Methanobacteriati
- Promethearchaeati (current name ‘Asgard group’)
- Bacillati (current name ‘Terrabacteria group’)
- Fusobacteriati
- Thermotogati
- Pseudomonadati
- The following phyla will be renamed respectively:
- Euryarchaeota to Methanobacteriota
- Candidatus Thermoplasmatota to Thermoplasmatota
- Nanoarchaeota to Nanobdellota
- All old names will still be searchable
Learn more
Learn more about these recent changes in the following publications:
- Valid publication of names of two domains and seven kingdoms of prokaryotes
- Promethearchaeum syntrophicum gen. nov., sp. nov., an anaerobic, obligately syntrophic archaeon, the first isolate of the lineage ‘Asgard’ archaea, and proposal of the new archaeal phylum Promethearchaeota phyl. nov. and kingdom Promethearchaeati regn. nov
Stay up to date
Follow us on social media @NCBI and join our mailing list to keep up to date with NCBI Taxonomy and other NCBI news.
Questions?
Please reach out to us with questions or feedback.