Reclassification of Lactobacillus casei subsp casei ATCC 393 and Lactobacillus rhamnosus ATCC 15820 as Lactobacillus zeae nom rev, designation of ATCC 334 as the neotype of L-casei subsp casei, and rejection of the Lactobacillus paracasei

The type strain of Lactobacillus casei subsp. casei (ATCC 393) exhibits low levels of DNA homology with other strains of L. casei subsp. casei (8 to 46%) and strains of Lactobacillus palacasei (30 to 50%), but exhibits a level of DNA similarity of 80% with Lactobacillus rhamnosus ATCC 15820, the original type strain of ''Lactobacterium zeae'' Kuznetsov 1959. Strains ATCC 393(T) (T = type strain) and ATCC 15820(T) are members of one protein profile cluster that is separate from the other Lactobacillus spp. The randomly amplified polymorphic DNA PCR profile of strain ATCC 393(T) is also different from the profiles obtained for the other species. L. casei ATCC 334(T) is genetically closely related to L. casei subsp. casei strains (71 to 97%) and L. paracasei strains (71 to 91%), is a member of the same protein profile cluster as these organisms, and shares several DNA amplicons with L. paracasei strains. On the basis of these results, we propose that L. casei subsp. casei ATCC 393(T) and L. rhamnosus ATCC 15820 should be reclassified as members of lactobacillus zeae nom. rev. (type strain, ATCC 15820), that strain ATCC 334 should be designated the neotype strain oft, casei subsp. casei, and that the name L. paracasei should be rejected.