ICNP与SeqCode：组学时代原核生物命名面临的机遇与挑战

ICNP and SeqCode: opportunities and challenges of prokaryotic nomenclature in the omics era

摘要:

自1936年细菌学家Buchanan负责起草专门的细菌命名法规以来，国际原核生物命名法规(International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes, ICNP)在不断发展和完善过程中，积极促进了原核生物分类学及相关学科的发展。随着组学技术在原核生物多样性研究中的应用，越来越多未培养的细菌和古菌新类群被发现，却因为ICNP要求活的生物材料作为命名模式(nomenclatural type)，而无法获得生效名称(validly published name)。2022年，原核生物命名法规从序列数据描述原核生物命名法(Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes Described from Sequence Data, SeqCode)正式发布，以补充ICNP在未培养微生物类群命名方面的不足。SeqCode不希望和ICNP产生较大分歧，并尽可能保留在将来和ICNP合并的可能性。然而，作为两种独立运行的命名法规，尚不明确SeqCode和ICNP并存会对学术界产生怎样的影响。本文系统介绍了ICNP和SeqCode各自的发展历程和主要内容，分析了二者的优势和局限性，并呼吁微生物学相关领域的学者共同关注原核生物命名法规并应用于实践，以期构建更加合理、有效的原核生物名称系统。

Abstract:

Since the formation of a committee under the guidance of R. E. Buchanan in 1936, microbiologists have developed and refined a nomenclatural code for bacteriology, the International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes (ICNP). This code has greatly facilitated recent advances in taxonomy and related fields of microbiology. Technical developments in omics have led to a surge in genome-based discoveries of novel uncultured species, many of which play important roles in environmental and medical microbiology. Nevertheless, the ICNP only recognizes cultures as nomenclatural types, thereby preventing the names of the uncultured microorganisms from being validly published. To compensate for the ineffectiveness of the ICNP in creating permanent and stable names of uncultured taxa, the Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes Described from Sequence Data (SeqCode) was published in 2022. The SeqCode was formed with the intention of complementing and someday merging with the ICNP. However, as the two nomenclatural codes currently work independently, the consequences of the concurrence of both codes on the scientific community are still not clear. Here, we introduce the histories and principles of the ICNP and SeqCode, summarize their advantages and limitations, and call for scholars to both respect and utilize the two nomenclatural codes of prokaryotes, aiming to facilitate the establishment of a more reasonable and beneficial naming system.