Talk:Mycobacterium avium intracellulare

Species name "avium" is obsolete for M. intracellulare
The correct name is just Mycobacterium intracellulare, and in the past decade is usually referred to that way in scientific literature, unless referring to a complex of species, not a subspecies.

M. intracellulare has been determined to be a separate species by genetic methods; "M. avium and M. intracellulare are two species, but some serotypes, now designated M. intracellulare, actually belong to M. avium." "M. avium and M. intracellulare are difficult to distinguish by means of biochemical tests and by means of numerical taxonomy. DNA-DNA hybridization confirms that these species are different but indicates that some serovars of M. intracellulare actually belong to the species M.avium..." Those genetic findings are buttressed by proteomic similarity between M. a. avium and another M. a. subspecies, a similarity lacking between that subspecies and M. intracellulare; "Rabbit antisera were raised to some of the strains [of M. avium paratuberculosis;] All were found to be antigenically identical with M. avium and none were found to belong to M. intracellulare." .

Also note the proposed species name used by Mycobacterium avium Complex disease listing information from the Center for Disease Control.

C4dn (talk) 18:38, 7 January 2010 (UTC)

Journal articles in the past ten years do use the phrase "Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare", but they usually seem to be refering to a complex of related species, not referring to M. intracellulare as a subspecies of M. avium; for example: "This polyvalent antiserum contains antibodies  to  serotypes 1, 2,3 and 18 of the M. avium-intracellulare-scrofulaceum complex of organisms" The hyphen is an indication that the authors do not mean the phrase to refer to a subspecies of M. avium. C4dn (talk) 17:52, 9 January 2010 (UTC)