[Study of a new group of Enterobacteriacea (group H1) related to Enterobacter cloacae strain]

A DNA-DNA hybridization study was carried out on a new group of enterobacteria (group H1) previously studied by numerical taxonomy work on the genus Enterobacter. This group showed a very high genetic homogeneity since the average relative binding ratio of nine analysed strains is equal to 91%. The taxonomic position of this group into the family of enterobacteria is discussed with the species E. cloacae (37 to 61%), K. pneumoniae (44 to 60%), K. oxytoca (57-58%), L. malonatica (syn. Citrobacter intermedius, a:46 to 54%), L. amalonatica (syn. C. intermedius, b: 51%), and the group H3 (52-61%). The group H1 is defined on phenotypic and genetic data.