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The Genus Hafnia

  • SECTION 3.3 Gamma Subclass
  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
The Prokaryotes

Introduction

The genus Hafnia was recognized by Møller (1954) while studying amino acid decarboxylase patterns among Enterobacteriaceae. Members of this taxon are Gram-negative, facultatively anaerobic rods that are typically methyl red and Voges-Proskauer positive, positive for lysine and ornithine decarboxylase, and negative for arginine dihydrolase. The taxonomic position of these organisms has been the subject of some controversy, and over the years they have been referred to as Bacillus asiaticus (cited by Ewing and Fife, 1968), Bacterium cadaveria (Gale and Epps, 1943), Aerobacter species biotype 32011 (Stuart et al., 1943b), Enterobacter alvei (Sakazaki, 1961), Enterobacter aerogenes subsp. hafniae (Ewing, 1963), and Enterobacter hafniae (Ewing and Fife, 1968). However, DNA hybridization studies have shown that these organisms are distinct from Enterobacter (Steigerwalt et al., 1976), and Hafnia alvei (the only recognized species of the genus) is a legitimate taxon.

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Authors
  1. Megan E. McBee
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  2. David B. Schauer
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology University of Minnesota, University of Minnesota, 196, Minneapolis, MN, 55455-0312, USA

    Martin Dworkin

  2. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University Medical School, 299 Campus Drive, Fairchild, Stanford, CA, 94305-5124, USA

    Stanley Falkow

  3. Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, Tel Aviv University, 69978, Ramat-Aviv, Israel

    Eugene Rosenberg

  4. Department of Microbiology, Technical University Munich, 80290, Munich, Germany

    Karl-Heinz Schleifer

  5. DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GmbH, Mascheroder Weg 1b, 38124, Braunschweig, Germany

    Erko Stackebrandt

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© 2006 Springer-Verlag

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McBee, M.E., Schauer, D.B. (2006). The Genus Hafnia. In: Dworkin, M., Falkow, S., Rosenberg, E., Schleifer, KH., Stackebrandt, E. (eds) The Prokaryotes. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-30746-X_10

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